


INCENDIUM

by leechailatten



Category: NCT (Band), SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Slow Burn, but like frustratingly slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 01:01:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 72,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22007392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leechailatten/pseuds/leechailatten
Summary: Royalty! AUStories say that once upon a time there was a prince who boarded into a ship to go for a diplomatic mission in a foreing land, fronting the troubles of the unknown, open sea. It was easy for people to invent what Ten liked or liked not, where his home was or wasn’t, but the truth is that in between all these pages of legend, the prince himself couldn’t seem to make a choice, nor discern, between his own desires and his duty.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Lee Taeyong/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten
Comments: 42
Kudos: 68





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Incendium is, for me, a creation i'm fond of. I first started it in 2019 as a pastime and gradually it became a really large story with three branches of stories that connect in the same universe. So, at the end of this year i have decided to share it in case more people can enjoy it and fall for it as much as me and my two beta readers did. Thank you a lot to them and i hope you enjoy this and stay until the end.

In his life, if he had to be betrayed, he didn’t think it would have been by books, his confiable friends that told him so many stories of love and adventure, extraordinary people with amazing powers and overwhelming skills, and hope for everyone. 

He read a lot of novels and every one of them that spoke about drowning explained it like a slow but calm death. 

Ten should have known to tell apart exaggerated romanticism and reality a little before the cold became intolerable. A million small knives cut his skin and made him unable to think of anything else but the intense pain and anxiety.

Down there it felt like you are floating in a vast empty place, with no time or space to tell you how much you descended towards the bottom of the ocean or how much time has passed since you last inhaled any air.

For his own consideration, Ten had already sunk deeper than a chest full of golden coins.

His lungs were burning and about to unconsciously have a big breath of salty water, but he didn’t notice any of his body’s reactions at that point, his conscience was vanishing from him. 

He was only a matter of seconds from letting his soul slip away from his body, but then, his fingers felt something lacing around them. First very dimly and softly. Or wait, maybe it was just that his fingers were numb to feel the rough tug.

Next, the bubbles popped against the skin of his face.

He didn't remember how to breathe. 


	2. Freedom tastes bittersweet

The city of Ignis was dressed with full colors for the biggest holiday of the year.

Despite being October, the heat of the lands maintained its high temperatures, only to drop at night.

The delight of villagers was noticeable crossing the capital’s market, clothes, tapestries and carpets hanging from the stands showing the intricate work of the local textile workers, as well as the delicious smell of coated shrimp skewers filling the air. 

Celebrations were in honor to the historical treaty signed one hundred and six years before the date, ending the dispute with the northern tribes of Ignis and welcoming them into the same rights and economy. The northern tribes had an ancient knowledge of carving rubies and bending cooper, and together with the refined treatment and decoration of textiles from the central Ignis, the country raised gradually to be one of the most prosperous places for trade. 

Delightment is what a citizen of the country would feel looking at this renewed vitality brought by the new dynasty of the latest and current king, awarding their home with more stores, restaurants and houses of entertainment.

It was a certain feeling staying at Ten’s heart too, but his happiness had much more to do with his firm steps through the market, because he hardly ever had put a foot on the market before.

He knew the holiday was a side cause of his vivid heart jumping inside his cage, diplomacy an excuse to run out of the city gates as soon as the clocks pointed the sixth number on their round faces. 

Lucas followed him closely, holding the paper umbrella above their heads to protect themselves from the sun's rays, rough to the skin. Ten had told him that he could be the one carrying it, but Lucas pointed out that he was too short to project any shadow over him and that he preferred not to calcinate under the desert’s sun. 

Soon, his eyes were able to see the _Storm’s Lily_ showing its masts raising to the sky, outlined against the horizon.

It was a modest ship, resistant and beautiful, but not to wide or heavy in order to flow it’s way up and down the canals of Ignis.

The high ranges of the city ordered to construct the canal to make tourism and trade easier when Ignis flourished. Now, forty kilometers of river connected the outer quarters with the sea. 

Ten unconsciously sped up to the pier, eager to board in the wooden structure as soon as he could.

When he reached the port, followed without problems by Lucas, still holding his umbrella, a boy with serious face and a beautiful almond shaped eyes approached them diligently. 

He wore black pants and same colored jacket with a brown leather belt and a stripe to the chest. His dark hair peeked out from the edges of his beret, and a silver compass rose was embroidered on his lapel.

_The Official Expedition of Corsairs._

The name sounded worse than it actually was. The Expedition, as it was popularly known, was no longer a society of thieves with a bunch of laws unfairly protecting them in his sleeve. They had noticed long ago that fighting ships for gold was less productive, and especially more risky and mortal than their current task, taking a fixed salary to transport mercancy from port to port.

Traders paid a stated price that guaranteed the trip of their products in a ship commanded by military trained sailors that could protect it with steel and blood. They also carried passengers with them, collecting the corresponding fee for the cabin, food and trip.

None of the corsairs was bounded to the loyalty of any region through law, and could take the job of whichever trader they wanted to. The only special lace they built, normally, was related to their heart. Some favored their lands, some didn’t. Some had a special weakness for the manners of one concrete port. 

— Welcome to the _Storm’s Lily_ — he said politely and putting his palm to his heart as mandatory greeting. A boy with the same uniform and well sculpted features rushed to his side and quickly offered the gesture too, with a tilt of his head— I’m the Captain Kim Doyoung, I’m at your service for this trip. Nonetheless, if you can’t reach out for me at any moment, be free to trust in the officer Lee Jeno, he is also very capable. 

— Of course— Assured the boy, apparently called Jeno.

Despite looking younger, his face showed security and experience, and he has a sword hanging from his belt too, so he was probably as safe as the captain.

— It’s a honor— said Ten with a smile, collecting a shine of curiosity from Jeno when the officer finally heard his voice in a face to face situation— I hope you don’t find an inconvenience taking me in, since I have never sailed before.

After his sentence, Doyoung was ready to answer with a string of preppy words, but the gracious hands of Ten quickly took out a red envelope from Gods know where and tended it to the captain.

He opened the envelope and took a look inside to, indeed, verify that it was a stack of paper money. A good stack of paper money.

He closed it, folded it in half and passed it to Jeno.

— Put that in the strongbox, please.

— Yes, captain— the officer put the money in his pocket and made his way inside the ship to follow orders.

— As for you, you can board when you please, majesty.

Ten nodded once, with determination, full of joy and with a bubbling feeling in his stomach because he was, finally, once and for all, breathing out of the palace walls and running to the open arms of adventures.

He wanted it to be like that, even if just a trip occurred, even if the adventure was at small scale, nothing attracted him more than see what was the world like when your own two feet are the ones to choose direction.

He wanted to try things out, talk to different people, eat watermelon, be barefoot on the deck...Everything worked fine. 

The umbrella was already closed over the chests that Lucas was handing to a couple of sailors with their luggage for them to carry it to their cabins. Then Lucas offered his hand to Ten and firmly held his as the prince of Ignis climbed the cooper ramp to the ship. And when he reached the end, a step away from boarding the _Storm’s Lily_ , he breathed in deep and literally jumped on deck with the manners of no prince, but making Lucas smile and chuckle with happiness at the view.

— My lord exudes joy, I see— he laughed choosing the special words to annoy Ten and play with him. He barely called him “lord” since forever.

Ten smiled wider than a child with a new lolipop.

— Look at this, Lucas— he said extending his arms to the view— It feels like I’m starting to live just now!

He claimed it with security, but a tint of sadness was still noticeable. It even felt sour on his own tongue.

Lucas saw, without saying a word, how Ten took off the knitted net veil off his head and shoulders and hauled it to the page, who caught it before an unfortunate blow of wind could put it in the canal’s water.

— Ten, don’t run on the deck!— he yelled as soon as he turned back to the prince and watched him already five meters away and heading to the bow section. 

He followed him, laughing and worrying at equal parts, because he was totally prone to let a friend laugh and have fun all he wanted. But Ten was not only his friend he was also a prince, so caring for him was inherent to the position he was in.

It probably wouldn’t be that bad if he was just nobility, a noble could be, and deserved to be, kicked in the ass by a citizen a couple of times, but not Ten.

He had been born where he had been born, even if it was contradictory to his unconstrained nature and his energetic heart that was making him jolt across the whole ship, even more determined when he saw Lucas running behind him and laughing too, like a partner in crime.

Ten was so focused on that momentary feeling that he didn’t stop laughing the moment he bumped into something and fell backwards onto the floor with a sonorous gasp from Lucas, abandoning his giggles.

— Hey, hey, careful— said a voice from above his figure thrown on the floor.

He had to focus to comprehend that he just didn’t bump into “something” but rather onto someone.

The prince was kind of knocked out when he found the boy tending him a hand to lift him up. He was too dazzled to expect that kind of view in a corsair vessel. His mind just flew away to try and guess the motive of a man of his appearance to be in that ship.

He wasn’t wearing the Official Expedition uniform but a black robe, dismissing that he could be a part of the usual tripulation but he had a noticeable scar next to his eye, under the lingering brush of his black and blue locks.

Although outer city’s people could and would beat a noble ass, they won’t do it hard enough to leave a mark.

Ignoring all those questions, he decided to go and take his gentle hand but as soon as he moved it to place their palms together, the standing boy took it back, like if something burned him.

— Wait a minute... you are a prince.

Ten looked at him with big eyes, not missing the slight, disgusted scrunch of his nose as the man noticed his origin with an out loud thought.

In his mind many thoughts rolled down regarding how he should have taken his long ruby earrings and rings off, how an average traveler wouldn’t have offered his hand away so gracile or just simply how much curiosity burst on his chest regarding this one person and his double reaction in particular. 

But it was momentary because a bigger man was pushing the first one aside, playful but successfully.

— More reasons for you to get him on his feet!— exclaimed the newcomer, taking Ten’s hand, that had been left waiting. He had small, plump lips and neat eyebrows, but especially a firm grip when he grabbed Ten subtly and, with the manners people used in the court, pulled with strength and gave him a pure smile of joy when he was back at eye level— Hello, I'm Johnny Suh, proud trader of the rarest jewels of Ignis. It’s an honor to meet you in person, majesty.

— Greetings for you too— he replied, excited, fronting the arising sensation of meeting new people. He wanted to introduce himself and say his name was Ten, but counting with the fact that they already recognized him as royalty it had no point. They’d refuse to use his first name, and they surely were already aware of it, so he just turned to the other boy implied in the scene— And I'm sorry I crashed against you, I didn't see you.

— Of course you didn’t.

—Ah, don’t be like that. He said it was an accident, take his apology!— whined Johnny— I’ll introduce him to you on his behalf, he is…

— Taeyong. I’m Taeyong. I can introduce myself— he said lifting one corner of his lips on a perfect half smile—What about you, smiley giant? 

Ten had to turn his head a little to follow Taeyong and Johnny’s curious eyes, that were basically checking Lucas out, standing behind him with his veil folded over one of his arms.

— I’m Lucas— he simply said, shrugging with his silly smile painted on his face. Then he tapped Ten’s shoulder to get his attention and kept speaking in a lower tone that, by the way, didn’t make much difference considering that Lucas’ voice was abnormally loud — We should go to our cabins and take out our luggage. Also you may want to change your clothes and put on a coat, tripulation is getting ready to set sail.

It was true. The sailors had started moving to the deck and gathering around ropes and sails to get ready and put the _Storm’s Lily_ to move. Everyone was wearing the same black uniforms as Jeno and Doyoung, and although theirs had less embroidery and luxurious decorations, they looked like a family of ants heading to the antshouse and doing their task diligently.

— So he is your slave— said Taeyong’s voice taking Ten out of his marine daydream.

Something hiding between that remark stung more than it should have.

— He is not my slave, he is my page.

— Where’s the difference?

Ten also questioned what was the difference, sometimes, but it was not the time to tremble in front of this unknown man with the face of an angel, he just boarded less than an hour ago, it was too soon to throw his royal status out the window.

No matter how much of a self-favour this trip was for him, he still was expected and required to have a minimum of dignity and grace. 

— He is not a property of mine, I’m well aware that he is a human being, and I treat him like so. But I don't know if you're familiar with treating people kindly. Do you know kindness? It's a virtue.

Johnny suppressed a gasp but Taeyong conserved his imperturbable expression as the prince spinned on his heels, grabbed his veil from Lucas’ embrace, and headed to the center of the sail to find the stairs. 

It was a bittersweet start.

It was a bittersweet start and he was childish, at times. 

Lucas wasn’t at any kind of surprise when he sat sulking on top of the chest he had taken all the way down the cabin by himself, even if he had to drag it down the stairs and make Jeno stare in confusion at the ugly screeching of cooper against wood coming from a panting prince. 

The cabin didn’t look like one, it looked like the biggest room of a very good lodge.

Doyoung assured to their house that he could provide a decent boudoir for them but, to be fair, Doyoung was a skillful treat-maker that didn’t exactly lie... but could play with the truth in order to shape a convenient price.

A room like that, with carved and colored wood ornaments floating above their heads covering the wide space for the bed, a desk, a chest and an impressive mirror, together with the annex room for Lucas with also very qualified decorations, was what one properly defined as fitting for a royal. Of course the price was higher than the cabins were Johnny or his clumsy companion called Taeil, must be thrown at, but it was fair enough. 

The page threw the last cushion on the soft bunch of silk sheets that was Ten’s bed and then he took the chance of the moment to rest on them and inhale the fresh scent of clean bed clothes.

He wondered if Ten would throw a tantrum but he just kept sulking with crossed arms over his chest and some goosebumps on his skin that kept remaining him his disadvantage. 

— You are cold— pointed out Lucas with little to no care about the level of upset his friend was in. If only people treated Ten with a little bit more of endearment and a little bit more of dare, they could save that kind of moments— If you get up you can take your cloak out of the chest and run on deck again to smash yourself against sailors. Although sailors may have harder body muscles than Taeyong, majesty, be careful of not breaking your nose. 

— Tsk… — numbled Ten 

— Why are you so upset?

— I wanted to have a good kick-off for this trip, just that.

—It's because of... how was his name?

— Lord Taeyong.

— Yeah, him. He was mean to you, and what? That's how socialising actually is sometimes eres, there are still around thirty sailors, a dozen of merchants and a handful of weird travelers to talk to in this ship. Why are you so bothered by the opinion of just one man?

— I know, it’s ridiculous—He admitted out loud— He is ridiculous.

The truth is that he had been thinking about his clash with Taeyong, and the thing that made him so upset was not knowing why he was upset on the first place.

Ten could understand that not everyone is meant to be friendly with everyone, the world would be so much peaceful if that was possible, but at least he wanted an opportunity and a fair reason to appear disgusting to someone, not just that... ugh, that sheer, blatant disregard provoked by his mere presence.

What was that?

As Lucas had said, Ten had literally a whole vessel of people going around with their own personal and unique backgrounds; he was sure he could stop the first man that walked across the hall, ask him about his life and discover that he trained a flea circus, but the specific sensation of being unable to decipher the first damn passenger he met was taking him out of his own skin.

Sure, he had bumped into him, but he had apologised! Ain't nobody wad so grumpy to be mad just for that.

And, besides, his appearance was so unusual to not be curious about his provenance.

Taeyong was unlike other commoners were. He wasn’t even like other courtiers. His face was fair, smooth like white marble, his eyes big and dark, with long lashes. He looked like he could kill with a stare and yet, like he wouldn't. 

What could a man like that possibly have as a job or goal?

Tired of thinking about it with no results, Ten got up like a spring and opened the box to pull his red embroidery coat on his body with decision. 

— Let’s go out, Doyoung said water is too calm inside the canal and that they’ll drink tonight before changing the stream for the sea.

— Sailors drinking like sailors— laughed Lucas— Without a care in life.

The prince instantly got what he really wanted to say without words.

— I don’t like the red liquor, you can drink my part— Lucas smiled from ear to ear and wrapped his coat around himself too.

— We shall not waste what the hosts offer, majesty.

Upstair, the view had become amazing as they sailed through the outer part of Ignis, that concentrated practically all the green of the country in high bamboo and banana trees, the sun has made his way down and it was borderlining the horizon, expelling reddish and purple colors in the sky.

On the wheel, the Captain Doyoung seemed to be peacefully admiring the scenery. Maybe Ignis was not his main working area or maybe he was just in love with the navigation, but Ten couldn’t guess.

Meanwhile, Jeno was also seating close to the rudder, and with a diligent expression, he was writing on a piece of blue paper with a floral relief on the bottom left corner.The boy must have been writing for a high ranked mandatory to put the expensive letter paper on the game. 

On the bottom deck, the scene toned up a lot.

Around the major mastile, people were gathering and talking vividly. Ten quickly found Johnny, and greeted him with a tilt of his head, in order to not disturb the checker game he was playing against Taeil. The shortest one looked absolutely amused, but it was understandable, seeing the high pile of coins he had on his side of the board while Johnny had just two coins and a deep frown, visible once he tied back his brunette hair on a short bun. 

He approached a little bit hesitant. 

Not very far from them, Taeyong was sitting against some wooden boxes with his legs carelessly spread on the floor, half paying attention to the game, half spacing out.

In the palace, Ten never learned how to play checkers, especially not against the attentive and tricky eyes of merchants, but he guessed it could be a good day to do so. 

— Can I sit with you?— he asked with an awkward smile and another tilt of his head.

— Sure— said Johnny, and made room for the prince to sit cross legged on the floor, back resting against the mast— Taeil, let's not be rude. Since his majesty is here we can’t exclude him from the game.

— Don’t worry, I can’t play che-

— John!!— yelled Taeil in obvious complain when the jewels trader brushed all the tokens out of the board. Someone didn’t like to lose, Ten guessed with an amused grin— You owe me eight coins, bastard, I won’t let it pass! 

— No money until there’s one color left on the board!— he chanted like a holy law. It probably was as valid as law for merchants.

— Empty your pockets! 

— Majesty, you won’t believe this disrespect. When my intention is to provide fun for all players, this greedy man is talking money!

Ten let out a sonorous laugh, surprising Johnny for the good, and earning a wide smile that showed the top row of his perfectly white teeth.

— So shameless!— he said keeping the bubbly feeling of the two traders before granting a smug smile for them— Lord Taeil, don’t beg Lord Johnny for money, a merchant this bad on strategy games would only be left empty-handed forever if you fleece him. 

Taeil bursted into laughter seeing how Johnny’s jaw dropped as soon as the prince dragged him. A tear rolled down the eldest’s eye, not expecting the raw eloquence flashing from the very same prince of Ignis.

Even Taeyong seemed to chuckle under his breath, but Ten missed it under the dragging of coins on top of the board, exchanging money from one side to the other.

— Our dear Johnny, always found with money in hand… but just to give it away— cooed a melodic voice.

Ten looked up to see the boy that walked up to them and was now finding a place to sit near the board game. 

A beautiful blue sheer robe hung from his well shaped, athletic body, his pants loose on the legs and tight around his ankles. A long necklace of wooden beads decorated his neck and the very low open collar of his garments. He was adorably attractive, and his chestnut hair, almost blonde, fell softly on his forehead just pass the eyebrows, never getting in the way of his eyes

— Oh, sweetheart— responded Johnny, far from taking the provocation to heart— If I gotta have something else on my hands it would be y-

— You are a bard?!— exclaimed Ten, ripping a smile from the boy in blue.

A golden feather was hanging from his neck as well, and shining bright on his pale chest.

It was not an official crest but it was extended between music companies and they liked to wear something that would attract people to their service. It shouldn’t work bad if Ten just gasped to it with ease.

The bard nodded and opened his leather bag to take a zither out. 

— A good one, if I say so myself—he replied.He managed to sound like a spoonful of whipped cream, regarding how cocky he was speaking, and that was an impressive skill in Ten’s eyes. But it wasn’t better than the fact that he could recite stories to him on the spot. He suddenly appeared like a treasure.— Johnny, is our appreciated prince Ten on board and you didn’t tell me? Officer Jeno told me before you did, and he is not that chit-chatting with travelers… I felt betrayed to an extent.

He was doing nothing but joke around, dramatizing with the advantage of his apparent friendship with Johnny, but that seemed to be what a good part of what the ship’s crew liked to do. 

The trader laughed it off and gestured towards the musician.

— Let me say, majesty, that I can confirm that Jaehyun is a graceful singer. Maybe you want to hear him go. 

— Yes. Play something, please.

Jaehyun nodded with a charming smile and scraped his zither. A beautiful and refined chord sounded familiar to the presents followed by another one.

With the experienced fingers of Jaehyun the sound played beautifully but Ten frowned slightly, as if he was let down.

— Oh no, please, not that one.

Jaehyun looked at him still kind, not minding the interruption very much.

— Play something we can hand-clap to, bard— Suggested Taeil from the place he was seating.

It was just in that moment when Ten noticed the glass of liquor on his hand, halfway to its end to the point that a clear blush had extended shyly on his cheeks.

— I am playing for his majesty, for you this it’s five coins, or do you think I eat from hand-claps?— laughed Jaehyun making Lucas and Johnny grin too, at the variated atmosphere of the ship— May I ask what my Prince wants to hear? 

— I always hear the boring stories about dynasties and palaces, I grew up with them and they sound slow paced for me— explained Ten, not wanting to offend the bard or look too snotty to him— Tell us the story of the windbreakers of Ventum Anguis. 

Taeyong scoffed, drawing the attention of all the people standing on the circle of the atypical group they had formed. 

— What do you even know about windbreakers?— he asked with a hint of mock in order to silence the intrigue of his voice. 

It was years from that moment that he didn't hear a ment of windbreakers.

— And what do _you_ know?— he snapped back, molest with him yet again in a spawn of four hours.

— I _am_ from Ventum Anguis.

— Pass him the zither then!— claimed Taeil with the only will of filling the air of his drunken evening with some rhythm beyond the waves that started crushing on the ship’s hull, getting close to the open sea.

— I don’t think he can play a zither, neither an arp or a flute— joked Johnny with an easy-going tone— Taeyong lacks nochalance for that.

— I don’t know, he has svelte fingers— said Jaehyun with a coquettish voice, looking at the digits of his hand and then making his way to shoot a direct glance to Taeyong’s eyes that spoke volumes— Maybe he can play a couple of instruments if given the chance. 

— Let’s keep the tone a little bit lower, bard— cut Johnny.

— Maybe play the Seventh Act of _Three Dragons story_ — suggested Lucas from behind his prince, trying to ease the mood and bring Jaehyun to finally make music sound before Ten burned a hole with his gaze between Taeyong’s eyes.

— Does his majesty agree?

— It’s great, I like this story, you can play that!

Jaehyun nodded and plucked the initiating melody of the Seventh Act of the _Three Dragons Story_ , getting Taeil to join him with his palms as he expresses he wanted to do. 

— _“White scales, lemon tree; my heart of gold is now at a huge ease; can’t you see?”_


	3. One coin fare

The blow of the wind had become colder by the time the sun set, and Jeno had descended to the bottom deck in order to hide from it, avoiding an unhelpful headache as consequence and, why not, to share some fun with the travelers too. 

The officer was now playing spades, coupling with Taeyong against both the bard and Johnny, since Taeil’s laugh was too easy to provoke already, and no one with enough rationality wanted to waste their hand because of a drunk partner. So the merchant was just there, watching the game together with Lucas and Ten and witnessing how Jaehyun got to fairly balance Johnny’s gains for the night because, in his words, it would be a pity to empty his sack even before they touched neutral waters if they could bleed him dry slowly on the boards through the nights and have fun for a longer time. But the game was being a constant tie, coming and going from side to side as the tricks accumulated on their backs. 

Taeyong held three cards, and Jeno only had two left on his hands, giving a threatening red shine under the intense light of the kerosene lanterns that reflected on the illustrated reverse, showing a laced design of round fans, very typically used by female merchants of Ignis. The prince wondered for some minutes where did Jaehyun got that deck from, but it was not so unusual to see those in bars and clubs and, obviously, Jaehyun would frequent places like that. The more alcohol you take, the less you care about paying to hear a musical thread to sing to. 

— Three of hearts.

—That’s an awful hand to play now— whined Johnny as the bard’s card landed on top of the others displayed on the floor. It certainly was, thought Ten, unless they knew how to throw a really good bait and were faking it to win the last trick of the game— Five of hearts.

— Eight of hearts— said Jeno, gracefully delivering the white card with eight red hearts on the middle.

Johnny didn’t move from his seat but, by his expression, even the distracted and embriagated eyes of Lucas could feel his need to throw his hands to his face and scream. 

Jeno had one card left and only the Gods could assist Johnny to make it a lower number than the ones in his hands.

— I pass— said Taeyong calm. That was more likely to be buff and not the merchant’s desperate tickling of nails over the wooden floor.

— Nine of spades— said Jaehyun, finally breaking spades with a smirk that told the world he only had spades left on his hand.

— Thanks, Gods above my head. I pass— said Johnny with an imminent sigh— Only spades allowed. Do we win already?

— In your dreams, my friend— shorted Jeno— Queen of spades, last card on my hand. We win and keep six of your coins. 

The card landed on the table showing the stylized figure of a woman holding a round fan, a black spade getting through it like a skewer.

Taeyong smiled wide, making his cheeks look much more puffy than when he was serious. That’s one of the reasons that, added to some other ones, drove Ten to think he had the face of an angel. 

But he felt disappointed to know it indirectly. 

Mostly, he felt disappointed of how much of a kind man Taeyong was to the whole stupid tripulation and yet he refused to be nice to Ten only. Through the hours of celebration and gaming, he had noticed that Taeyong had a smile in store for everyone and a gentle tilt to his voice, therefore his disdain towards the prince was deliberated.

The prince got a wish of gifting him with a handback slap while watching his soft attitude with others. Taeyong was not a bad man, so the problem, in extension, had to be within Ten himself. 

And, oh, he hated problems so much to be happy about having one living within him.

— This is too good, Johnny, now we can evenly part our gain. Three coins for Jeno, three coins for me. It’s a rounded amount.

Jeno was already slipping his coins in the pocket of his jacket and getting up from the deck’s floor. 

— Thank you for your kindness, John— joked the officer, once he was on his feet— Now, if you, sirs, and especially your majesty, excuse me; I'll head to the wheel. In fifteen minutes or less we’ll be entering the Middle Sea. Captain Doyoung says it’s going to be a calm incorporation but consider that we are going to unroll all the sails and that the wind blows at faster knots once we go out from the forest. People that get motion sickness or dizziness because any other motive, and I'm not looking at anyone in particular, Taeil; please throw up over the railings, chew ginger if you please but, for the Gods looking upon us, don’t do it inside the cabins.

Everyone agreed with that with no problems and Jeno rapidly left to go upstairs to stand next to the captain. 

When the prince returned his sight to the middle of their decreasing circle of people, Taeyong was entertained shuffling the cards and arranging them by suits and ranks. Jaehyun was certain when he said he had svelte fingers like a musician, because he was working on the thin cards without a rush but also without a pause, and he could flip and move them easily on his hands.

Indeed, the bard was still looking at him unraveling his task, with attention.

At first, Ten had thought that Taeyong and Jaehyun were long time friends like the latter was with Johnny and Taeil, but after he finished playing the Seventh Act of _The Three Dragons Story_ and receiving a round of applause by not only their group but also every person close enough to hear him and get involved with the singing and clapping company, the musician asked him for his name. Johnny had rolled his eyes to it but then Taeyong just answered that he was Lee Taeyong with a warm smile that, for Ten’s consideration, was worthy of melting a candle to its lampstand. 

It had irked him so much.

The deck of cards was a set with a small die-cut box to fit them in, which explained their enviable state with no folds or cuts despite the ink of its drawings being more diffuse than a new deck’s.

It was a good definition of Jaehyun: neat, charming and enviable.

There were too many heights in the economy for a bard to be at, depending on how well they could play and sing and how smart they were, but Jaehyun didn’t look like someone who had problems collecting coins. Maybe his robe was a bit worn out, maybe his zither had simple decorations, but no doubt that he could get up from the floor, order a full course dinner and go to sleep in sateen sheets, his manners and his look were clear about it. 

By the way, the one who got up first was Taeyong, after closing the little box and leaving it on the middle of the circle. He stretched his body throwing his arms to the sky as his muscles awoke after being on the weird playing posture. 

— I’m leaving to my cabin— he announced.

Next, his eyes went over all those who were present.

Ten felt like he stopped a little bit longer over him, questioning for a moment if Taeyong really gave him a brief sappy smile or if he was just acting delusional.

The prince opened his mouth to speak but a murmuring metallic sound interrupted him.

A coin flipped on the air, going from Taeyong’s finger to Jaehyun’s rapid hand, catching it in a swift movement like a frog catching an insect on the flight.

He must be used to be fast with money.

— Play _Retraction Next to a Bamboo Three._ Have you heard that tune, prince? 

His eyes locked with Ten for a moment, and Ten wanted to frown, smile and insult him and the same time. 

— I haven’t. I don’t recognize the name, either.

— That’s fantastic, then. Johnny was promising fun for all players on the table and we ended up playing spades, that’s a fame for four players. Don’t mind him, merchants breath running-money-games— he joked, making everyone laugh, specially Taeil that was already clinging on Lucas’ shoulder and suffering a drunk doze. However, Ten could only pay attention to the revelation that Taeyong was not a merchant, in consequence of his phrasing— I appreciate a promise enough to complete it by myself.

— That song is for a flute accompaniment— complained Jaehyun, breaking Ten’s bubble of astonishment in front of Taeyong’s big dark eyes.

Why now. Why that. 

— I’m sure you can make it sound excellent on strings, too— praised Taeyong. Definitely, the boy knew how to play his cards, because Jaehyun attracted his zither to himself and tensed some strings a little bit more for a flute song reenacting— Everyone, have a decent night. Prince Ten too. 

He didn’t want to mumble like a child trying spicy hotpot for the first time, so he kept his mouth closed as Taeyong, like he said, turned around and headed away, changing the deck for the cabin area and leaving an impressed Lucas and Ten behind him.

Jaehyun sighed and put the coin back to his robe’s pocket, place where it belonged to in the first place before coupling with Johnny. 

— He asks for the song yet he can’t stay to listen to it— he sighed, turning the tuning peg maybe a little too hard.

— Jaehyun, nylon strings are expensive and whip hard when they break— called out his friend.

The ship had already reached the sea, and the vast mass of water seemed calm and huge pass the bow of the vessel.

Jaehyun adjusted the thinnest string and looked up, right to the prince eyes of sparkling curiosity and joy. He tried to pluck and pulse the string in the correct way for the requests and a soft melody played to flow together with his voice

— _“_ _I have brought the flute of crystal; Who can hear it?; Can you defy the great blowing of her forest?_ _Only the foolish fight her like that”_ — it was a gentle paced song with elegant chords, sand it sounded like the rhythm you like to hear while having dinner or to be forced to learn salon dance with your third cousin— _“When she sings decency is more needed; Who can hear it?; A fool is one who fights the forest’s wind”_

Ten’s eyes became narrow slits, listening to what the verses were saying.

He looked at the bard and then he looked to the invisible trace that Taeyong left behind him when he left.

It was a new song for him, and judging by the way Lucas started wiggling around and Johnny was immersed in an attentive silence, it must be a rare song to hear.

Even Officer Jeno’s black beret could be seen peeping out the railing of the upper deck, leaning closer to pay attention to the ending of the story. 

A story of a naive hero that refused to stop playing the flute, even when the wind roared loud enough to quiet it. It was like a sung lesson of modals telling people not to act inconsiderately, but the undertone of requwsting it to be played for Ten clicked fast in the Ignis’ prince’s head, sumerging him into an increased curiosity for Taeyong. 

He didn’t ask him, nor beg him, for information; the prince didn’t put up a scene and whined at him or pulled from his robe to get him to be a storyteller, he simply gave that to Ten out of courtesy. 

Did that made angel-faced Taeyong better or worse?

Was he thinking Ten was so stupid he couldn’t understand anything from it? Was he dedicating the meaning to him and calling him insensitive? Or was he giving him a gift to fulfill his curious heart? 

Ten was an easy prince to satisfy, if the person trying to do it mastered the art of holding him from the right angle. 

He liked that legends and stories the best, the one that talked about the Windbreakers Order, but they were so difficult to find. He always complained about this fact with Hendery, offended by compositors that didn’t use that gem more often. If Ten were to write epic and music, he won’t let the memory of such an interesting tribe die without songs that could extend across lands to feel the excitement of their triumphs.

To that, Hendery had just shrugged his shoulders, stationed on the window, and said _“maybe they are just good tales to sleep”_

Ten had frowned to that _._

Books were not an option for him to learn about the mysterious Windbreakers either, because the palace library was full of books, and although Ten loved them so much, only history, religion and official literature came in, not legends or fantasies that the teachers said that were just for children.

But there was another type of songs, many of them probably got lost and forgotten, particularly for the people that were not native from Ventum Anguis. They were less popular tunes that spoke about this group indirectly, and in a much more encoded way than a story as it is, so people outside the Wind Region ignored them or forgot their real meaning.

They were also difficult to find and recognize but at least they were more abundant in number. 

—What does that mean, by the way?— whispered Lucas on Ten’s ear, seriously concerned about the songs’s election, probably catching on some of the overtones under it and maybe even feeling offended.

—That wind whistles more clearly between bamboo stems— answered Doyoung from the stairs, where Ten hadn’t noticed him before.

Lucas was very bad at whispering.

The captain took off his beret and shook his head, brushing his hair back on place. 

He failed to see the meaning, exactly, but it was close to it. It wasn’t too bad for a corsaire, they were also too bound to faith in Gods, probably in order to try to repel bad luck with storms in the sea, to do literary analysis. 

— Captain, you know this song?— asked Taeil with a voice so sticky that anyone could swear he was bordering a pass out.

— It's rare, but I heard it once at a noble’s house in Per Saxa. 

— What were you doing in a noble’s house, you broke lil’ sailor?

— Of course, you are much more of a noble than me, Taeil, just about to throw up on my ship’s floor after giving your money to my junior— Ten thought it would be mean from him to laugh in that moment, but Doyoung made it hard to hide because he was so moody. The prince lowered his head so the hood of his cloak wouldn't make it so obvious— I guess you haven’t been to Per Saxa before, majesty.

— Never before. And I have great expectations of it, captain. My ethnology book says that there are beautiful roads to walk between all their gardens. There are high threes and you can stop on their shadow without having to carry the umbrella. I have seen the paintings, is it very green and flowery like they say?

— It’s greener than Central Ignis, yes.

— So you like Per Saxa, captain? Should I expect big things from there?

— It’s the land where I was born, what can I say? 

—Really?— asked Johnny— And what do women like there? 

— Excuse me, sir?— said Doyoung sardonic.

—What are you thinking about, captain?— laughed Johnny all silly. This time the one who got blushed ears was Doyoung, as he looked away— At Ignis, men wear as many jewels as women, but I heard Per Saxa’s men keep it more simple than women, so my market is on them. What do they like to wear? 

— I don’t know, I’m not informed of women’s trends… 

—Our captain is so prudish, uh?— kept Johnny saying in order to molest him.

—C’mon, Johnny, don’t be such a show off— said Jaehyun, chuckling funny— We already know you are so unmindful and clumsy that you were to throw your lover on bed with hairpins, bracelets and all.

— You wanna give it a go?

— What’s wrong about that?— asked the prince.

Everyone shut up instantly, and looked at each other for half a minute, then they started to laugh again.

Ten scrunched his nose aware of what everyone was exactly thinking during those seconds. 

They were thinking that it was a surprise that he wasn’t inherently innocent.

He didn’t care if it was for just seconds, Ten didn’t like people to assume things about him, whatever the thing un question was, but he didn’t want to sulk more that day so he did what he had to do.

He flicked one of the red pearls that hung from his hair brooches and escaped from under the hood with his fingers, making it jump a bit off his forehead.

— If I had to take off all the pendants on my hair every time… It would take me too long, no?

Lucas sunk his face on his palms. It felt too weird to hear Ten saying things regarding that matter, naturally like that. No doubt, it had been long since Lucas stopped buying the appearance of ethereal prince with no stain or flaw, but it was not usual to hear him break his given character in the open. He huffed to himself, embarrassed… as if Ten wasn’t the most prone person in the palace who would talk about things spontaneously if he was allowed to. 

—That’s right, that’s right! What’s the problem of keeping the accessories while the fun goes on?— questioned Johnny— It gives a fancy look.

Even Doyoung started laughing. His face changed a lot when he did, he looked much younger and cuter with his toothy smile. 

—Some hairpins are like a one palm long needle!— complained the captain— Would you lie on top of that? 

—Lying on them or throwing them on the night table they are there when the woman gets in the chamber! What is the trend? Bronze? Gold? Tourmalines?

— Clear crystal — ended the startling voice of Jeno.

Johnny turned his face to look at the official standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest. 

— What? 

The official sighed with closed eyes as if he was meditating in order to avoid an impolite answer. 

—Two months ago, princess Yeri of Per Saxa visited the capital’s town hall for an official event to place the last cobble of the new walking road wearing an all crystal crown. People liked it a lot and started talking about her beauty and class, so the crown became a popular issue, every house of nobles and the richests merchants have been trying to get accessories with clear crystal pendants, diamonds... obsidian would do too.

—Work with crystal is not usual in Per Saxa— explained Taeil, suddenly coming to life when money was mentioned— Because fine crystal needs lead oxide to be made and it’s not too abundant in their mines. 

—Exactly— said Jeno. He was molested, Ten didn’t know what made the officer feel like that but it was a true fact. Jeno passed his weight from one leg to the other and adjusted his jacket with a serious expression that made him look severe— Now everyone should head to their chambers, night is getting deeper and cold. 

Everyone started getting up from the circle that had been being the source for their amusement for the last few hours.

They better rest, they still had six entire days more of travel until they hit land.

As they went back to their room, Lucas looked happy, still tipsy on the red raspberry and grenade liquor of Ignis that he liked so much, but for sure not as wrecked as Taeil, who stumbled to his chamber as if he had lost the center of his balance. 

The page followed Ten on his way downstairs.

The prince was drunk in something worse. 

He rumiated the ideas inside _Retraction Next to a Bamboo Three,_ repeating the verses of the story in his head.

Why would Taeyong requested Jaehyun to play it? A favour? A flex? Boredom? Casuality?

Ten rubbed his temples with the tip of his fingers, squeezing his brain and trying to guess. 

_“When she sings decency is more needed”_

The most popular song about Windbreakers, the one that everyone knew and was able to sing, said that the Order had a rule of never saying anything if the wind was howling because that was interrupting.

 _Voice of Ventum_ could be sung even by a two years old kid of the Wind Region, and everyone overseas had memorized that popular melody, so Taeyong should have assumed that the prince would recognize this rule in a new song and see how to find the laces between one thing and the other.

A lesson of modals for those attached to the wind. 

Then why not telling him directly? And even worse, why not talking to him at all? Is not like Ten could give him an allergy.

— You are pouting again, majesty— said the page, pulling him back to reality— I believe officer Jeno sent everyone to the rooms for commodity, not to end the amusement.

—Shut up— first of all, he didn’t agree with that. Second, Ten was not aware of the fact that he was pouting and it being pointed out embarrassed him to the core of his body. Last but not least, that was not what he was thinking about— Do you think Taeyong is sleeping?

— Mmmh… probably he is, your majesty.

— Lucas! Stop using honorifics, I swear.

— Fine, then listen to this: Forget the fuck about knocking on his door right now.

— I need to talk to him.

— At past one in the morning? Ten, it’s okay to enjoy this trip, it's okay to want to be curious about other countries folclore, but what's not okay is to knock on a man’s door at intempestive hours to ask him for a legend that is not real!

Ten stomped one foot on the floor that elevated the dust of the stairs in the air.

— Take that back!— The page knew Ten wasn’t really mad at him, he had seen him mad for real and it was not like that. Still, Ten was pissed. 

Lucas sighed, understanding he maybe was too unnecessarily harsh.

He rested his palms on the prince’s shoulders and gave him a spontaneous rub before pushing him softly to make him resume his way downstairs

— Let’s go to bed, you can ask him tomorrow, at a time when he doesn’t get a bunch of reasons to commit murder against the royal crown.

— Okay, whatever.

He gave up and let Lucas push him to their room.

Is not like he knew which one was Taeyong’s cabin.


	4. A good prince would

When the sun slipped through the blinds of his room in the shape of white shiny stripes, molesting his closed eyes with the new luminity of the morning at the sea, the royal page from the desert stretched out on the mushy mattress.

He wasn’t in any rush, he could stay in bed all the time he wanted, but Lucas was not the man for that. All the time, he felt energetic and he was in an especially good mood due to the sweet raspberry flavor lasting on his tongue.

— Good morning!— he sang loudly, verging on a yawn and stretching all his body lightly.

Ten always slept late and resisted when Lucas tried to drag him out of bed one way or another.

Usually he just tapped his shoulder until the prince was too bothered to keep sleeping, but some other times, when the day was sunny and the prince was deeply asleep, Lucad sat on the night table and poked his cheek with his index finger. It felt like an unbaked loaf of bread all soft and fluffy when it squeezed against the pillow, so he loved to watch it.

Guilty pleasures of his.

Lucas pushed the curtains that separated their rooms open and walked in the main chamber determined.

— Time to get out of… bed?

He froze under the arc of the door, still holding the curtains open.

The bed was already empty, and even made, with all the sheets smooth and the cushions on their place.

The page stood there thinking how was he supposed to feel about that.

He always took Ten’s presence on his bed in the morning for granted, never he thought it could differ. And he didn’t like it at all, it wasn’t feeling right because he knew how capable of coming up with follies that royal mind was.

Until that moment, Lucas never thought about the lack of fear of the prince like something negative, but then again… the tables had turned. 

He ran out of the cabin with his heart in his hand. 

—Gods, award me with calm…. award me with calm… because if you lend me strength…—he murmured as he rushed across the hall, not minding at all that he was still wearing his bed clothes. 

He went into the dining room, but didn’t find anything except from Johnny, calmly shipping some coffee from his porcelain cup, sitting in front of an indisposed Taeil. The eldest of the merchants had some dark circles under his eyes and a trembling pulse while holding the tea cup chirping against its plate. Lucas knew the sensation of constant nuisance that red liquor could leave behind, if treated wrongly, but what could he say, he was born in Ignis and Taeil was only an overexcited traveling merchant, half his stature, that wanted to keep his pace in the first night of a sail trip.

By the way, due to their state, they were not the correct people to ask for the prince, so Lucas kept searching through the vessel, somehow hoping to find an open door to Taeyong’s cabin and find the sir by his own.

He didn’t think he would worry so much about Ten’s free comes and goes, but once he saw him out of palace, his nerves shot up. 

Before they left home, he was given certain requirements. One of them, and probably the most important one, was keeping an eye on Ten and preventing him to get any harm.

When the general Dong Sicheng told him to protect him and wished him with good luck, Lucas wanted to huff and puff, and tell him there was no need of doing that, that Ten was not a toddler and could walk on his own. And indeed, the prince hated to be considered one and he went and walked alone, but in practice, it became harder to accept than Lucas thought it would be. 

When he wanted to notice it, Lucas was already standing on the deck. It was empty, just a few sailors scattered, talking despreocupate with the nice and tepid weather of sun mixed with the cooling breeze.

He was in such a state of agitation that he almost missed the top deck of the rudder. 

Jeno seemed to be concentrated on his blue lettering paper again, in silence with the world for the moments he needed to complete the tasks, but Doyoung was up, hands on the wheel and sight lost in space as he listened to the prince talk.

It was easy to spot Ten, for his pink robe over white clothes were too light in between the corsairs’ black uniform and shone with the reflections of the gold thread embroideries. He had also pulled his hair off his face with the gold diadema that mimicked metal roses, trying to keep it from getting in his eyes due to the blowing air that was making its pendants swing, throwing random blinding shines on the deck underneath.

At first, when the prince woke up and proceeded to enjoy a lonely walk across the vessel, he didn’t had a setted target or destination but he found Doyoung, who had been up since early morning, piloting by his own.

After standing at the beginning of the staircase questioning if he should approach him or not, Ten came to think that there was literally anything that could forbid him of going up the rudder zone. In fact, he guessed that that was exactly what he was supposed to like as a prince, what people expected him to do.

A prince would go up with gallantry and say something that could make him look like he knew more from the art of navigation than Doyoung himself.

Like “how’s the course, captain?”.

Ten certainly had studied vessel types, marine routes and had some nautical notions from his classes on politica and strategy, but he could never say he exceeded Doyoung. Fat chance. 

— Course to northwest, traveling at six knots and a half speed— answered Doyoung like if he had recorded every little parameter going on in his ship— Weather forecast is acceptable. I see you have opted for the long sleeve look, your majesty. 

— If the trained corsairs wear long sleeves, how naive would I be if I went contrary to that?

— To an extent, majesty— he said without beating around the bush. Jeno gave him a brief look charged of goodwill to try and go soften his attitude a little bit, so Doyoung cleared his throat— So, how is my ship of your taste? 

— Really enjoyable. I feared I may get dizzy on board but I had a pleasant night, even with Lucas snoring like an old man fifteen meters by my side— he said raising his voice on purpose, knowing that the page had stopped on the lower deck and was eavesdropping with that tint of not trusting him on his dependance— The room is fantastic too, could belong in a noble’s house, it’s impressive to find it inside a vessel.

— It’s good to see you are comfortable.

— Yes, I am. So, by the way…— said Ten with his eyes on the figure of Lucas disappearing inside the guts of the ship again— How are chambers arranged? 

— Excuse me, your majesty? I don’t understand what you mean— Ten revolved a little bit on his robe, then he gave a thoughtful expression as he tapped his cheek with his index finger— Would you want to change room?

— No, no, it’s mere curiosity for this… great sail.

— So?

— My room is huge. Counting with all the people around here and the length of the _Storm’s Lily,_ I highly doubt all cabins are the same size.

— Of course, we gave you the best room— said the captain, trying to fulfill what he considered that Ten wanted to hear, based on some of the highest nobles that he hosted before’s kind of interests, but Ten just scrunched his nose slightly. 

— Which mean there’s a hierarchy of spaces. How is it arranged? 

— Hmm… At night, Jeno and I sleep in turns of three hours, so we sleep under this deck to be close to the wheel in any case. You can say that’s mine and Jeno’s room. Under that, there's a big room shared by the twenty six remaining sailors. Under the main deck is where Lucas and your majesty sleep, together with another… how many of them were there, official? I think nine cabins more. The three that are closer to yours are a bit more… convenient.

—Convenient?— he asked half out of curiosity, half frowning. 

— Usually, there are for nobles that want to travel or for high profit merchants in our trips. They like their room to be a bit more opulent, majesty.

Ten pretended to be a little bit disinterested.

He wouldn’t question Xiaojun’s tendency to ask for acting classes never again, they were useful out there to gather information.

— So we have those for people like Jaehyun— He ventured to say, and Doyoung nodded quietly, still looking to the front. Ten nodded, content. He knew Jaehyun could afford more than it looked like— And regular ones for people like Taeil, Johnny or... Taeyong? 

—Aham— assented Doyoung who was, for real, disinterested.

Nonetheless, he made Ten smile with his discovery, balancing his weight excitedly from one side to the other.

The search reduced to six rooms.

True thing was that he couldn’t end the conversation just like that if he wanted to be subtle, and actually Ten didn’t need any excuse to keep talking to the captain, who made a very interesting man, despite being rather quiet.

— So you are from _Per Saxa_ , right?

— That’s right, majesty, i was born in _Per Saxa_ , the Land of Rivers. Or the Land of the Gardens, if you prefer that name— said Doyoung peaceful — But I'm not going to stay, as your majesty knows, this is a both-ways trip.

— Yeah, we need the captain on board, if possible— It was a joke but Doyoung didn’t give much reaction back so he moved on— Has it been long since you last visited?

— It’s been a while, certainly.

—Why? Why did you leave your home?— he asked with a sparkle in his voice.

He was aware of the time that took to learn the needed disciplines to be, not only a sailor, but a qualified captain. And Doyoung, despite the seriousness of his face, couldn’t be much older than Ten himself, so he should have dedicated to that art from a young age. That, or he was the honor student of the sailing school.

— I’m in love with the ocean— the prince rolled his eyes, amused. What a corsair, he acted more like a playwright sometimes— Because it feels calm… from up here I can only see the sea, if you pray good it’s calm and it’s _usually_ so quiet… 

Jeno cleared his throat behind the prince’s back again.

Not that Ten was that slow, anyways, he got the indirect of Doyoung liking to be up there on the rudder all by himself. Maybe it was better to limit to talk to him when he went down voluntarily and sit with them to play spades.

Ten decided to leave him alone if that was what he wanted, he disliked forced conversations and he had enough of them at Ignis. 

Looking at the sun, people should have started getting off from their sleeps so he didn’t have to return to his cabin just yet.

The coffee scent ascended from the open door of the lower part of the ship, which gave him so appetite but mostly hinted to him that he could find any other of his partners seating at the coffee room.

He rushed across the deck, started hopping his way down the stairs and, once again, maybe due to the destiny’s unexpected turns, he encountered Taeyong in front of him, almost bumping on him. He stopped on his tracks, his feet tiptoeing on the edge of the step and almost tripping down, if it wasn’t for his will of not worsening things with the other man. 

The strong scent of ginger that was coming from him, getting over the smell of breakfast and surprising Ten, gave him a little dose of ego.

Taeyong had motion sickness.

He had a lot of motion sickness and, apparently, a bad case of high pride levels that sent him early to bed last night instead of telling everyone that he was dizzy.

But that did not stop the vassal from chuckling with a mocking overtone at the sight of the prince making a fool of himself. 

— Is this your habit? 

— This is my flaw. I’m clumsy— answered Ten without much thought of it, while he recovered his balance on the steps.

Taeyong had to raise his eyebrows and look at him from his feet to his face, chuckling again at Ten’s pose, hook on the walls and floor like a cat trying not to fall in a bathtub.

He had to admit to himself that that was not very prince-like and it surely didn’t show any kind of grace.

— Can the royal prince, please, move over?—

Ten quickly reacted, letting go of the railings and squeezing himself against the wall, his back pressed on the wooden plaques to let room in the narrow stairs for Taeyong.

the latter dragged his feet up the steps, passing by, heading to wherever he wanted to go on the deck.

Ten observed him, about to disappear out of the rather dark staircase that looked like a wooden tunnel, but something on his chest pulled hard enough to not let him go with such facility, like invisible strings. 

Taeyong didn’t have to look back to notice how the prince abandoned his place against the wall to run up the stairs, after him, holding the edges of his robe to not step on its ends and forgetting that he was going down in the first place.

— What is it, prince? Do you want something from this mercer?— he said, sarcastically.

— That’s what your job is? You are a mercer?

—Yes, prince— he sighed— Did you expect something else? 

— Hmm, no. Jaehyun was not so mistaken on you, uh? You have thin and skilled fingers so you can sew with a small needle.

Mercers, the union that fell in the intersection of the three circles of jobs, always in between being an artisan, a trader and an artist.

Ten undid all his previous path across the ship behind him, with his hands laced at his back as if it was a casual walk. Doyoung followed them both with his eyes, a little shook by their togetherness, not missing the picturesque combination they made.

Taeyong smiled at the velated compliment.

—Can you do embroidery?

— Why? Are you going to ask me to embroider a shirt for you? 

— I don’t know, I’m only asking— said Ten molest for the calm on Taeyong's voice that didn’t correspond with the look on his face.

He suspected Taeyong was playing around with him.

— I can do embroidery, yes— he finally said— But what do you want? I’m not going to tell you more-

— I would like to apologize.

Taeyong stopped on his tracks quite hard, and Ten wished the captain didn't notice the tud on the floor when Taeyong turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow again because he didn’t want anyone to listen sneakily to that conversation. 

They walked towards the railing, where Taeyong’s body finally decided to lean. Sea breeze tangled with his black hair, getting it messy on the wind. 

— Princes don’t apologize. 

— Princes do apologize, bad people don’t. When a bad person happens to be a prince at the same time then they don’t. As for me, I won't like to be a bad person, so do you want to take my apology or not?

Taeyong sighed.

— What are you apologizing for? 

— Bumping on you, twice, angry talking back at your question yesterday and…

— And?

—And whatever the monarchy did to you in the past.

Ten was glad that he finished talking before the mercer looked at him, turning around like a thunder hit.

In the time he had been showing his back to Ten, the prince had moved and was also posted on the railing, by his side, suddenly realizing that they were closer than he thought, but it was not a moment to take a step back, even if he felt so much like shying away.

— Excuse me?

— I can tell apart between a rude man and a resentful one. 

A silence hung in between them. Taeyong’s eyes became something like a blur, like if he had spaced out for a moment, letting the prince know that his leap of faith turned out well and he made his guess right. 

Besides traders and merchants, that lived and breathed for business, everyone that voluntarily put their feet on a vessel was fueled by curiosity, but Ten was well aware of how non-voluntary that mission seemed from the outside. A prince going to another kingdom for business didn’t look like a complete party, that was a rock fact, but at the end of the day, he was no exception, and so the questions wanted to go out from his mouth, ask Taeyong all the things he wanted, ask him to tell more stories, but he grinded his teeth and forced himself to look at the big mass of blue water that surrounded the ship.

Because that’s not how you interact with people from the real world, that was just palace life.

Speaking requires at least two subjects. 

Detaching the habit of being answered at all times was harder than Ten thought it would be, and that felt like an alarm for him. 

He quietly watched Taeyong letting go of the railing, probably thinking about going back to his chamber, leaving Ten entertained with the very low sound of wood when the vessel swayed, and have some intimacy to eat another ginger root, but then he just playfully swung from it like a bored children, searching for something to do inside a vessel that was half empty due to the handover that red liquor had left behind.

Even a little conversation would help, to pass time. 

—So our prince doesn't like stories about royalty— Ten shook his head and tried not to smile from ear to ear— How comes? It sounds like a contradiction to me.

— I like adventures more.

— I see… Windbreakers and dragons, isn’t it? 

— I also like demons.

— Demons? A little bit truculent for a prince, in my opinion— he said with a helpless grin that Ten caught from the corner of his eye and made him smile too.

Taeyong was a bit silly, more than what his marble face would tell at first sight. Under all the beauty, he was just young and playful.

— Oh, so first you think I can't apologize and now you tell me demons are cruel enough to make me tremble?— he joked— I think the problem is that you have mistaken me for a child. How old do you think I am? Five? 

— Let me see— said Taeyong, leaning further over the bar to take a decent look on his face. Ten was unable to know if he was just joking or if the guy in front of him really didn’t know about his age, together with all the extended information about his present person that went around the country for obvious reasons. Taeyong wasn’t from Ignis, after all, theoretically Ten didn’t have the right to claim himself as his prince. He sounded serious when he spoke— Eighteen? Recently turned nineteen?

— I’m twenty-three! 

— No way, with that face?

Ten stopped for half a second and then, the only thing that was born of his chest was getting loose and cackling, finding that his very few reasons inside himself to be so rigid with Taeyong were dying.

He saw the grin left on Taeyong’s pink lips and knew he was trying to joke. Maybe he was not very used to hear those. Maybe they just had a bad start together.

— Lucky me, but I’m still twenty-three.

— Fine, so you like stories of people that can talk to the wind, magic beasts, violent demons… you make an uncommon prince, has anyone told you?

— No, this is my first time— smiled Ten watching the waves swirling around the ship as it sped through the Middle Sea, faster by the time. The wind moving the golden pendants at the sides of his head and making a quiet sound, soft to his eardrums. Doyoung was definitely accomplishing his promises of sailing fast to _Per Saxa,_ he may have burned candles and asks the Gods to give him a fast wind, out of the weather predictions— Maybe only you think that Princes are like that.

— I...— Taeyong scrunched his nose with a sour expression— … don’t think so. I think it’s popular knowledge.

— What is that I make such an unusual prince then, Taeyong?— he said more serious now, almost sarcastic— Enlighten me.

— When I think about princes and kings… we all know they like to hear about their families and their parties… songs like that, like in _White Curtains Today_. Love stories, dreaming about marriage with the more suitable person, princesses in waiting… all of that reveries. 

— Maybe you know too little— accused Ten.

There it was again, the feeling of disgust when people assumed and assumed things about him, Lucas or both. He tried to lock it down and hide it at a lost place in his heart but it still felt like out of place to him that anyone could think that read his depth as a person could be done with such facility.

 _White Curtains Today_ .

He asked Jaehyun not to sing it the first night, it would be the nth time for him to hear that story and his feelings won’t change about it just because it was played on a ship, it would feel the same, like if he wasn’t in a whole new thing from the moment he boarded and his awaited chance to go out was truly just a diplomatic visit to _Per Saxa_. 

—Ask Jaehyun, then— answered the mercer defending himself and his point. Ten sighed, shoulders dropping because it was not hard to know that he had the reason— Ask him what does he play in noble parties. I’m just telling you facts. As a prince, in this ship everyone expected you to seat on the deck and let him sing that song.

— I know, I have heard it a lot in the Grand Salon. Well, I wouldn't have been that picky if it was any other royal song— he confessed. Xiaojun liked the song much better than him, in his birthday it always played— I would have sit there and pretend I was enjoying it, but… just that song in particular, it’s the one I hate the most.

— Why?

Ten heard Taeyong straight up asking him, like if he was already tired of pretending he had a partial disinterest for him or maybe just finding a renewed motivation within their conversation.

He was standing by his side with his arms crossed over his chests and lookin at Ten attentive. His eyes were so big and dark brown that the light made a lot of small glitters shine in them, and Ten had to admit really deep down his guts that he had a beautiful appearance.

A super dramatic captain and a mercer with breathtaking looks… and that was only a part of the crew. Who would have imagined it?

— It makes me feel envious. I don’t like that. 

— What?— he was startled by the mercer’s tone at his answer. It came out tender. More tender than ever since he crossed the first look with him and he became aware of who he was talking to. It seemed like they went back to the boarding day and Ten didn’t forget to take off his earrings— Envious like what? 

— You know...— he hesitated in front of the possibility of just telling him what he was thinking, knowing that maybe it was considered between the things he shouldn't say out loud but recalling that no one could hear him do so, in the middle of the ocean— Because I feel like I’ll never be like-

— Guys!! Majesty!!— he had to interrupt himself and turn to face the deck and see Johnny stepping up the stairs with a yellow dress coat to his knees and the energy of… a merchant full of caffeine after breakfast. And it was not only him, a lot of passengers had already gone out and more followed him on his way up— We are about to pass by the coasts of _Caleo_!!

Everyone started rushing to the left side of the ship.

 _Caleo_ was a huge imperium, in fact, it was the biggest one to ever exist in their zone and therefore, the most prosperous one. They had a lot of exportation, a lot of fields in the central parts and a good position for navigation. Some of its capes extended far into the sea, appearing visible to sailors that surrounded it with their ships to cross to the other half of the Middle Sea, but a good part of them were a tall and steep line of cliffs that would make it hard to dock a vessel unless you directed it to an official port.

Passengers were gathering and stopping at the edge of the deck like a row of birds on their post. And that included Johnny, who felt like a lightning when he occupied the space in between the prince and the mercer who, by the other hand, didn’t notice the sharp shape of the _Caleo_ country towering in front of them, unbeaten.

Jaehyun also approached to them quickly, a small dimple showing on his cheek, with emotion. There was not much room left on the railings so he perched on Johnny’s back. 

The merchant had a huge smile on his face and was now taking a deep breath of clean oxygen under the frozen and surprised eyes of the boys at his sides.

His hair was no longer tied up, and when he stuck his upper body over the barriers of the deck with his eyes closed, the wind brushed it back and cooled his face everywhere.

— To avoid any man overboard at high speed, I'll have to ask passengers not to lean that far on the railings— announced Jeno in a loud but polite voice from his elevated position.

— In other words— resumed Doyoung at same volume— Sir John, stand straight! 

— He sucks the fun out of everything, doesn’t he?— commented the merchant going back to his previous position that shaped him into the perfect height for the bard to rest his chin over his shoulder. Both of them were lost in the anticipation, trying to see how the country of treasures with no limits looked like from the sea. The prince also became really intrigued when he heard it was a _Caleo_ cape what they were approaching, and he decided to stand on his tiptoes like if that posture would allow him to see over the cliffs— _Caleo_ … how fun their capital city must be? 

Taeyong lifted his sleeve and looked at a simple watch he had tied on his wrist with a tilt of his head. The prince was about to take a look on the sphere too but Johnny blocked his view. He calculated it was around eleven in the morning. 

— Seems early to be watching this mountains already, we really are going fast… 

— The magic of the wind’s inertia— said Johnny with the smile still lasting on his lips. He leaned a little bit back on Jaehyun’s chest, behind him— Or maybe the sensation of time running faster in good company.

Taeyong raised his eyebrows with more amusement than curiosity. Nor him or the prince knew Johnny beyond the card game the previous night but if the first impression was that he was unskilled with tactics, maybe they could start understanding his success as merchant then, if they blamed it to his smoothness. 

— Taeil gave you an unforgettable night?— teased the mercer taking advantage of him and the closed lips of the bard.

— Unforgettable is not enough— he said rolling his eyes.

— He threw up in his cabin, didn’t him?— asked Ten.

— Yeah. And it would be just right if it was just his cabin what he messed up, but the case here is that I, a loving friend like me, tried to help him and unfortunately got in his way— The bubbling of Jaehyun’s laugh on his chest was already shaking Johnny who started laughing too. At least he took it with a pinch of sugar and laughed it off because the most sure thing is that official Jeno came down and hit the merchant with the mop for doing exactly the opposite of what he said— Excuse me for being so graphic, but the bastard deserves to be exposed.

— Disgusting— commented Jaehyun.

— I loved that tunic but I tossed it out the window, to be honest.

— Do you know the concept of washing clothes?— mocked Taeyong— It’s practical.

— I found that is harder to think with logic when you have Taeil’s dinner splashing on you.

— Oh, for the God of Light, stop that— said Jaehyun, scrunching his nose despite his laugh— Change topics or else my breakfast will land on your tunic too.

They kept babbling and picking on each other, specially Jaehyun, who was causing a laugh attack to take over Johnny.

They were sincerely entertaining, to the point Ten found himself laughing with them as if they were childhood friends.

In that moment, the tap of the page on his shoulder startled him. 

— Good morning Lucas— he turned around with leisure and a smile. He started feeling how Taeyong moved to the side, squeezing against the passenger by his side and leaving a space for Lucas to stand too— Johnny says we are passing by the frontiers of _Caleo_ , do you want to take a look? 

— Prince...— by only hearing his tone, the prince made a face. Lucas seemed to have different concerns than them, at the moment and it dragged him back to reality to see the awkwardness on his pose. Worry didn’t suit good on him. He completely left the railing to face his page with the needed seriousness and waited for the reproach under the curious look of Taeyong and Johnny— I’m sorry to interrupt but you should head up to your room and start fixing some papers.

— It’s five days until we enter the port, Lucas, there’s no need to rush— he said, trying to convince himself of it too.

— We are sailing fast and the paperwork needs to be done sooner or later, please start it now— begged Lucas, feeling bad for being the one to end the fun. He gave him a puppy look that always worked with Ten and watched his expression soften for him— I’ll help you doing it so you can be sent out to trips more often, you know that… 

— Fine, let’s go— he said tugging from the edges of his robe wrapping it around him, ready to go. As he passed by him, he gave him a look and murmured for only him to hear— I hate your conviction.

Lucas smiled at him, forgiving him completely for running alone in the morning, and made his way away with him as Ignis’ prince waved goodbye for the other three boys that were sharing time with him.

They looked at how he left with the curiosity and disconcert still lasting on them but Johnny just shrugged his shoulders and went back to the mountains in front of them. 

— Duty calls… He truly is an interesting man, I would say— apuncted the merchant with a chuckle, looking at Taeyong and waiting for a confirmation of his guess and maybe a hint of why were they so frozen when he joined them earlier, out of the blunt— Don’t you think? 

— Of the prince? I honestly can’t tell you what I think of him— he confessed, surprising even himself. He didn’t meditate the answer but it was accurate. Taeyong recalled his previous conversation with him and the way in which he laughed with that smile lighting up his face. If he, by chance, had believed in The Gods, he would have had time to question if he was standing next to a blessing. Too bad he was an atheist and that thought was rejected as soon as it showed itself in his mind. He shook his head, afraid it appeared again, and fixed his attention on Johnny. Even thinking that the place the prince left on the railing was empty, Jaehyun was still leaning on his back peacefully. He laughed to himself— But I can ask you two to please get a room, I'm starting to feel like the odd man out. 

The bard snorted, starting another round of tantrums and humoristic complains to conceal the elephant in the room. They were on a good mood, though.

That’s how they passed by Caleo’s coasts. 


	5. Storyteller

Calligraphy, that little invention of devils, was able to get on his nerves.

Ten didn't like to give up and admit he could be defeated by a nib pen, he was stubborn like nobody to say that he was bad at it, but in sight of other enviable handwritings of nobles and courtesans, his felt a little bit disappointing. It was not his fault, he tried to do his best and do elegant looking characters, yet he failed in every little thing that required him to be straight. 

— The more I write, the more I think I'm doing bad— he said to Lucas, who was resting his head on his palm at the other side of the desk, reading and revising what he was writing.

It took them so long that the shores of Caleo were left behind by several miles and the sun made his arched path downwards, approaching to the line of the sea again, ready to disappear. In such a case, the fixed attention over the motionless ink and paper kicked Ten’s healthy feeling out and made him aware of how much a ship could sway up and down and side to side. 

— I believe this is because you lack interest for the matter— the pen stopped abruptly on the paper, making the last “s” of the word he was writing look rigid.

— I’m trying all the hard i can for this… “Accord sealed by the Royal Crown to permit the friendly exchange of priests from _Per Saxa_ to the _Royal City of Ignis_ ”— he said naming the whole header of the document he had been signing and preparing for next week when they arrived to their destination, with the clear diction of how bored he was at the point they were.

— I know it’s not your thing, but at least do it for your land— spilled the page.

Lucas loved Ignis, he had the attachment to his motherland deep under his flesh. That feeling that is born together with the person, for default, and makes you miss the view and people when traveling somewhere far.

But it was not the papers, it was not the rows of handwriting that he had been trying to ease. It was a general feeling that Ten already noticed when he sat on the desk at noon with a Lucas that was more quiet and serious than he would have liked to discover he could be, and who actually seemed oblivious of the new turn of his aura. 

— Fine— said the prince, resentful— Can you tell me what are you so vexed about?

— I’m not vexed, but it would be quite nice if you could stop being so careless.

— Do you think I’m acting careless?— he said, already tired of the nagging from his friend and the dizziness making his head feel like a muddled mass of fog— Or maybe is you being the less flexible person in this ship? 

Lucas snapped his head up and nailed his eyes on Ten knowing where was the prince mind veering to, sharply, rather making it feel like a knife thrown at his chest.

— It’s definitely you. You are not being convenient.

— Amazing. So you're telling me you think it’s not convenient for me to go up and peek over the deck instead of inspecting every carved flower on the ceiling of this chamber? Like if you didn't know me, Huang Xuxi..

— I’m not aspiring to make you stay here all day!— complained Lucas, taking all the offense off his chest and letting it out in his voice— But you are the prince, of course I'm reluctant to encourage you to jump on the hold of the first wanderer of this vessel! Especially if you decide to pick the one that treated you on the most arguable way!

— I’m not The Prince, I am _a_ prince! And i haven’t jumped on anyone!

— You haven’t? I see you, just like a cat, crouching before you make the move.

The slapping sound of the pen being pulled flat against the surface of the table was loud, announcing the following raise of the prince from his improvised chair in the cabin. 

— Lucas, you know this is a diplomatic trip. I know this is a diplomatic trip. Yet you forget I have foot and a mind of my own to go and lurk around. I socialize. I know it’s too bad for you all but this is a vessel, it’s a closed area that barely reaches 30 meters from prow to stern, no one is going to lift me up and haul me overboard. 

—You never know.

Ten huffed as his mood decayed and darkened slowly, unable to believe what his friend just insinuated.

—Why did you come with me?— although Ten wasn't yelling at him or making a fuss, Lucas felt his blood heating up with his question and knew that it was him who wanted to yell at Ten, but the insecurity of doing so inside the ship didn’t comfort him, since the walls were thin and he didn't want to involve anyone else in a discussion between them, especially if the collindant rooms were for nobility— Did you seriously expect me to lay around in my chamber all day long? Have you mistaken the person who came out with you from the palace? I think you believe I’m Xiaojun.

— Prince.

— Everyone. Everyone applies the same yardstick to measure us both. And it drains me.

— I know.

— Then don’t do it.

—You know I don't feel the same about you two, either…— Said Lucas but interrupted himself when he saw that with all of that, Ten had turned around and was already opening the door with decision anyways— Where are you going? Seat down.

— I’m dizzy, you dumbass. 

The page stood on his chair and watched him go, the door clicking behind him without a special loud sound laced to it.

Lucas wished to melt down on top of the desk and become a poodle until he was ready to interact with him again, not knowing at all how to handle a situation like that and just praying for Taeyong ticket to be just one way.

For his side, Ten didn’t know what he should head to when he left the room, and more than anything, he didn’t know how to make himself a medicine to help his faint want of reenacting Taeil’s scene from the previous night.

Again he was lost inside the ship, with the difference that earlier that morning he felt the renewed ease of exploring a new place, swell with energy and curiosity, with the hopes of finding the unlimited number of things to do that extended in front of him like a duck feathers fan, ready for a prince to conquer them. No, this time was quite different and he was undergoing the sensation of being sick, sad and annoyed. He could even feel the heaviness of his mind weighing down on top of his body.

With all, he decided he should fight it, letting his feet guide him like if they have a brain for themselves and could substitute his, out of work for the moment.

He walked across the hall, the lights slipping from under the doors in thin lines.

He noticed, after Doyoung explanation on the upper deck, that it was true that the rooms he first passed had a laced design of white lilies on the frames, like his; but as he left the fourth one behind, they seemed to be only wood. Nevertheless, the aspect of the hall didn’t change. Both nobles or merchants rooms shared a titilant scheme of turned off and on lights. 

He heard the muffled sound of strings being plucked lazily together with a subdued singing voice, but the prince didn’t even consider to try to follow the music to trace Jaehyun, he only smiled to himself and kept going until he reached the other side of the hall where the dining room was located.

He was in search of some water, maybe just a sink, to be honest.

Ten hasn’t discharged the possibility of just getting rid of the part of food that was swirling angrily in his stomach, but arriving there and seeing Taeyong seating on a table with his classic, classy black and blue tunic, and a smoky mug in front of him, was a good reason to do such. 

From one to ten, the idea of losing that big amount of elegance in front of the mercer was a hundred and ninety nine points bad.

Sitting in front of him, like he decided to do as he approached and received his deep look, was only six points bad. 

—What a pleasure— he said with that tone that characterized him, but Ten did not reply despite how hard he wanted to know if that was an irony— I thought you’d get your dinner served on bed or something that us, commoners, can't enjoy.

He knew it probably was a joke. Again. But the solely ment of food didn’t sound pleasant to him, given the state that was crossing his body with nausea. 

— The truth is that I had it served on my room. Thought, I have some regrets— he answered simply, hoping for that conversation to end, and counting the breadcrumbs of the tablecloth with an insignificant try of recovering his balance with a task like that.

The silence echoed in the room for several minutes but it was not an awkward one, at least. It was more of a serene and consensuated silence filled with relaxation, no one feeling forced to speak. 

— I accept your apology— Ten raised his eyes and captured the calm expression of Taeyong’s face, with his nails tapping on the table melodic and his black hair falling on his forehead.

His smile was accidental, yet unstoppable, when it spread on his face being the prelude of a nod.

— It’s good to know that.

The mug at his side of the table made a dull noise when the mercer pushed it with the tips of his fingers all across the surface and stopped in front of the youngest one, who could smell the distinctive perfume of ginger being expelled from the infusion.

He could not blame Taeyong for being too imaginative, he knew his face denounced him and that he was pale, because he saw his reflection in the mirror when he angrily stormed out of his room. Believe it or not, the prince was not as proud as the boy in front of him, succumbing easily to take the mug on his hands and swallowing the content, still warm, down his throat.

— Thank you, I kinda needed that.

— It’s fine, you know, I don't want to try tossing my tunic off the sail like Johnny, and you are in front of me, so— Ten laughed, and it was true that, as he did it, he felt how queasy his stomach was. No wonder why Taeil had no other choice but to go off if he drank that much, it sure was an explosive combination— I won’t tell anyone if you don’t tell anyone.

— Treat.

Is not that he even cared about being exposed in front of the others for having motion sickness, but he agreed anyways. At least, if he decided to spend a good amount of time out of his room, and the situation looked like it was going to be like that; Taeyong would brush Lucas off if he happened to ask him and the prince would save himself from being scolded. Again. 

— It’s late, why are you here?— asked Taeyong, softly shifting topics, searching for a discreet way to taunt him, while Ten had another gulp of warm tea.

— Hum? 

— I mean… Taeil, Johnny and Jaehyun were on the deck earlier but you didn’t join them. And now you are here. I thought that, in case of going out from your chamber, it would be to have fun.

— Sadly, I wasn’t able to join them today. You can say that a prince has to do his work as stated.

— Oh, I see how this unravels— said Taeyong with a smirk that managed to be soft and playful at the same time. It was out of Ten’s knowledge how that was possible— I have become the source for your amusement?

— I guess. My favorite victim is Doyoung— replied the prince sarcastic and giggling— But when he pilots it’s like speaking to a garden statue, so you are also a good alternative.

Taeyong shook his head and looked to the side, making a quiet laugh flow. He almost had to blame himself for such a carefree feeling, but he didn’t. Better say, he was surprised by his own voice when spoke to the prince again.

— If you are bored I can tell you a story.

Ten's eyes lit up, as he had expected.

— About what? 

— A palace— there it was.

It lasted just seconds and the sparkles on his irises faded just as soon as they appeared.

— I told you that I don't like stories about royalty.

— Is not about royalty— he said with the darkness coming to his voice— You are going to like it, it’s about a demon. Wanna hear it or no?

— Uh? Lord Taeyong…— started the prince. It’s more than unnecessary to say that he was tempted to an extent but he was also unsure of the outcome. His thoughts stirred for a minute but then he gave a firm nod— Sure, why not? 

Taeyong accommodated on his seat and rested his head on his palm just like he had done that same morning, up on the deck. It seemed like more than a whole day had passed between one conversation and the other. 

—Once upon a time, there was a young prince living in the beautiful Royal City of _Ventum Angis_ , the Land of Wind. He was blonde and pretty, his face was fair like the porcelain cups where he had his coffee in the morning. Do you know his name?

— The prince Kim Jung Woo?

— Yes, Jungwoo. And have you, Prince Ten, had the pleasure of meeting him?

Ten slowly shook his head, with his pendants still perfectly put on his hair, tingling around.

He saved the explanatory remark he almost threw.

Not only was Jungwoo the present prince of _Ventum Angis,_ but he was also young. Younger than both of them, making him a rare subject for a story, that normally were about already deceased people or legendary characters of dubious existence.

— Then let me keep moving. Prince Jungwoo is beautiful and pure-looking, like our land. He is the only child of the king and so the king thought his son had the right to ask him for the moon if he ever wanted it. So when the prince counted fifteen and had his coming of age, he was asked what his present should be. What should be a present for a fifteen years old prince? 

— A persian cat?— the invisible point where the mercer had lost his harsh gaze should have turned off suddenly, as he abandoned it to look at the other when he answered. He looked like he didn’t expect a reply to that rhetorical question but he, as well, appeared to let a smile linger on his lips— But you are the storyteller so I don’t know… 

— He thought really big and asked for the most beautiful palace for his own to live there. The king never said no to anything coming out from his son’s mouth, thus, he made a lot of people go and build a palace of white marble and metal that shines weather is sun rays or moonlight falling on it like a pale metallic light. That’s why they started calling Ventum Anguis’ capital…

— Silver City.

Taeyong nodded.

He then stopped talking like if he was done with the narration and his main goal from the beginning was revealing an anecdotic historical fact to Ten. He was grateful to hear it, that kind of things were rarely written on his books, and he didn’t know that was the reason for the name, but his heart itched, noticing the lack of the great finale he was expecting.

He stretched on his seat and leaned on the table, knowing that Taeyong won’t stop there.

Or at least hoping for it.

— You are a good storyteller.

— You are pleased with this story? Should I tell you more? Since you have this truculent kind of taste for misfortunes…— he asked playfully trying to taunt him again— Since I'm your entertainment right now.

— Well, I want to know when does the demon come in the palace.

—My prince— something like a drop of sweat rolled down Ten’s back, trying to discern who, among himself and the protagonist of Taeyong’s story, owned that title he was calling— He was. The demon was the owner of the Silver Palace.

— How comes so?

—A building is not only the walls and floors. The king of our land selected the workshops very carefully, promising the highest salaries to the participants once it was completed. And, as you can guess, all the workshops fought for the job with everything they had, no matter which product was their speciality. Furniture, brocades, tiles and a lot more were needed. The palace was made with a lot of windows, the king ordered the preparations of yards and yards of translucent curtains with plenty of embroidery so when the sun went through, colors would appear inside the rooms for Jungwoo to run under million of fantasy shapes. 

— It sounds dream-like— adventured Ten even though he didn’t like the royal stories and that sounded pretty much like one— I would like to learn how to do all of that on fabric. Would you show m-?

A tud sounded and the prince almost lost the grasp of his sharp gasp when the sole of Taeyong’s shoe slipped between his knees and impacted with the wood of his chair, dragging it back and pushing Ten away with it carefully.

He had to admit that until he was dragged back, it was unknown to him how much he was leaning in towards Taeyong, embellished by the narration and feeling like the closer he went, the best he would understand. 

— Listen until the end, majesty, don’t lose track of the tale, you know legends are tricky. 

— Sorry, what was next? 

— The prince, Jungwoo, flicked his fingers and sent his servants to the selected workshop with no papers or notes, to say, one by one, all the things that should be sewn on his curtains. It took the employees longer than four months to complete everything, and it still was a rushed job, since he was becoming greedy, envious and selfish.

Ten made his eyes became narrow slits and scrutinized the other’s face for a split second.

— Like a demon?

Taeyong hummed and nodded in response. 

— There was twenty mercers and more than forty curtains, length from the ceiling to the floor, all disposed on a big gallery hall. Everything was going good at the reception so far, the corruption hasn’t stepped on his shoulder yet. Jungwoo said “I love silk, it’s so soft like the wind of our country” while passing by the curtains caressing them on his hands. Nonetheless, someone between the mercers, no one knows who exactly, some unskilled stupid, left a pin stuck on them and so the prince got a cut from right to left of his palm and started bleeding blue blood on them.

—And hence, a man got to become a demon.

—He fumed without any warning— continued Taeyong, with a tone that tried to pull Ten down inside the world of his story. Or at least, that was the effect he was getting, so Ten preffered to think it was on purpose— As he never got reprimands from anyone, the prince was the one to throw them all, and though it was his freedom to tear the curtain from it’s loops and vent his anger on the entire workshop. So finally… finally… when all the tantrum was over, he told everyone to leave immediately from the palace.

— And you got a scar on your eye.

Taeyong let out a sigh and stretched on the chair, leaning on it and getting back his despreocupate look after the harsh storytelling.

He was looking so casual that Ten couldn’t figure out how his mind was quivering due to his guessings.

The prince could only focus on his wonders of what should be the mercer thinking regarding the fact of him sitting on that table with him, drinking the last drops of his ginger tea because he was stupidly unable to make one for himself and whining about wanting him to show him how to sew, putting him close to all those pins. 

That, and his pretty shiny eyes. 

Never he had a real storyteller for himself, by the way. All that came inside his house for that matter were classical musicians, books and, in counted times, Hendery when some of them asked to read to each other and make it a little bit more fluid. At first they did it to practice their diction while reading out loud but then it became just a way to have fun. Hendery was reliable so Ten really realized in that moment that Taeyong tended to avoid answering him a lot of times, in comparison.

And that made a slight stingy feeling appear inside his chest.

— Is that how you think I got it? That's imaginative.

—Where does that story comes from, if not? 

—Fine, so let’s suppose the narrator of the story got a scar from a battle with a demon. How do you, as someone versed in literature, think the story follows?

Ten locked his gaze with the boy sitting across the table, some foreign emotion of mild sadness and awaiting blooming in there among them.

— I think the narrator is not going to draw needles close to a prince ever again, just in case.

The mercer chuckled and rubbed his eyes like a reminder of the late hours on the clock. For a split second, watching him hover, Ten felt a jab of desire to touch his face too, since he was as soft as the flower that named the ship, with pale skin from the west that also resembled it.

— If that bored you, I’m sure that Taeil would be happy to teach a prince how “spades” is played.

— I know how to play— argued Ten with a smug smile—Is he feeling better now? 

—Yes, he is a tough cookie, you know? The Captain was pissed off today because Taeil won him two coins. He was all about “how can you throw up in the rooms but become so grounded when money comes out?” You know, Captain Kim is like that. He was about to point him with the sword, he had his hand on the handle— laughed Taeyong, despreocupate enough to make Ten skip a short breath— Jaehyun elbowed Johnny and said “you sure he sucks the fun out of everything?”.

— I missed a lot today, I see.

— Maybe, yes. You shouldn’t miss more reunions— he said with only a small tint of reluctance— I’m not fun enough to entertaining you by myself.

— You are fun, actually— he said as he got up from his seat— Obstinate, but fun.

— Obstinate?— said Taeyong two tones higher than he would have wanted, because look at who was talking.

He regretted everything when Ten showed a big grin that made all his teeth shine behind his red lips, knowing that Taeyong had fallen for his trick, at the end.

— Don't worry, it sure has a solution. I would think about it some time, but let me retire now if you don’t mind, I have duties to complete.

—Of course, let's go and pretend you are not bored of me.

Ten laughed with the humorous tone of the mercer and hid his shyness one last time while he gave him his back and made his way away from the table. 

He didn’t have a special need or desire to return to his room but he was feeling better, and the time was against him if he didn't want to pick a severe fight with the man he left back in his chamber, so it was a good moment to retire with dignity after the favour of Taeyong telling him a story of that class. About himself.

But then his voice called, once more.

— Majesty, wait— he turned around to watch the boy, still sitting on the same place he found him— How is your persian cat called?

The prince raised his eyebrows surprised, but not feeling any bad mood radiate from him, just a simple grin.

— My cat? Atesheh. 


	6. Stripped Carnations

With the third sun rising above the _Storm’s Lily_ , Ten woke up with new, refreshing thoughts in his head after a night or reflection and a relieving sleep.

Is not exactly that he was acting conforming. He was displeased with conflicts every time they came around, and having one with Lucas was deeply disappointing, as he was his most confiable friend, so staying in bed until late for just one day wasn’t that bad, and he could bare with it better after the dining room sesion from the night before. 

It was hard to admit, but he got a taste of everything he wanted. And it was on a way he did not expect but that, he noticed, he enjoyed widely. 

Taeyong got a little something that kept him curious.

At first he thought it was because of the initial inability to be liked by him, and he even found himself declining the thought of Taeyong being someone nice, but after the first encounters passed by, a new kind of fascination appeared somewhere inside his guts and didn’t seem like it would leave.

Taeyong was mysterious and the way he spoke gave away he was also intelligent. If that was not already the most interesting features that someone or something could have on Ten’s eyes, being such a fidgety prince, it seemed like the young mercer also accompanied all of it with a perspicacious sense of humour, a soft edge of his heart and a husky voice; but that last one, Ten wouldn’t want to think about it a lot, since it seemed weird for him to be divagating about weather a man on board had that type of charm.

Bold of him to asdume that he fooled himself repeating that on his mind when he, indeed, had been thinking about it since he woke up by the sound of a wave hitting his window. Maybe it was just the solitude of his bedroom, interrupted by only the sounds of the waves and wind outside and the smell of breakfast again on the lower quarters of the vessel, but it was there, anyways.

It had been a couple of hours since he was awake when Lucas pulled the curtains open vividly, this time in silence but with a more pleasant result.

Ten was about to pretend that he was still sleeping, but as he saw him coming through the room, he decided that he was not in the mood to give it up to him easily. After all, he was the prince in charge and, at least for his honor, he should stan.

He sat on the bed, instead, laying his weight on all the cushions that gathered at his back like a second mattress. Getting on hold every filament of boldness within himself, he shot a substantial look to the page that just sat on the far edge of the mattress, at his feet.

The bed of the cabin was, as expected, smaller than his personal bed back in Ignis, because the ship was not made to deal with royalty that often and, specially, because there was a limited space and weigh; so Lucas happened to end up seating closer to him, and therefore, making the rays of Ten's glare be more effective.

— I guess you are waiting for me to ask you for forgiveness. 

— I haven’t said a word, Lucas.

— But I have eyes. It’s been really long since i don’t see you make that face, majesty.

— Take a guess, then, and apologise if you consider its suitable.

— Why?

— I also wonder why. Why are you so panicked about me taking time for myself?— he said changing his cocky expression for one that mixed worry in it, one that was more sincere— I know I can't lie to you pretending that I'm the most skilled prince when documents come to the table, but you can’t say I ignore my duty or take it for granted.

— Is not your calligraphy what I'm concerned about.

— Then tell me what it is. Try to make me understand, at least.

—I’m unhappy because you are running away— said Lucas with a flinch. It was a terrible conversation to have while wearing pajamas because, at least when Ten wore all those peals of fancy clothes and his hair was out of his face holding pins and a crown, he looked less like Ten and more like Ignis price. Like this, with just a nightshirt and floppy hair, it was easier to ignore that there was a considerably high step between their classes— I’m used to you being a little bit more still, if you get my drift.

— You don’t trust me, then?

— I do but there are other factors...

—I promised you that I'd behave once we were pass the walls, but my oath didn’t include, in any part, to become the boy in a bubble. From all the things I could picture happening, you asking me to act cold is the one that I expected the less.

Lucas let himself lay on the bed with a sigh.The page wondered if thatmattress was as mushy as the one in the palace.

He felt the gentle tap of the prince on his hair but he didn't want to fall for it. He wanted to make things up but somehow, they were advocated to end up fighting, lately.

— You always encourage me, play with me and help me being happy, what has changed from when we were on land?

— The people around us, in the first place.

— Answer me a question, Lucas, do you think the people on board is worst than the palace’s insiders?

— Without a doubt.

That felt like a tough slap right on the prince’s face.

And to think that he was trying to hand the situation with calm… but that finally got him, especially after last night happenings.

The page looked up at him from where he was laying to double check what was the intention of that question and he found that the stern face that welcomed him to the room had returned, and this time was not to dramatize his speech, judging by the depth of Ten's brutal frown. 

— Lucas, get off my bed, I didn’t give you permission.

He sat back up on the bed, rushed to comply with the orders, and saw Ten could get out, kicking the blankets off his way and making his walk to the chest to get dressed.

The page looked confused when the prince gave him his back and started roaming across his things, not really knowing what had he said to unravel such a reaction. Some people call it “domino effect”, one pushes a small piece that seems trivial and meaningless and the next thing you know is that the bigger pieces are falling down too. 

— Prince?— he uttered, sort of shyly. 

—Don’t. I’m going to get dressed and finish the papers dued for the accord. Please wait for me in your room.

Lucas breathed in with the sense of anger getting real.

That was the for-real-angry Ten.

It always seemed like a bad mood like that didn’t fit him, it came just in counted occasions, but it hit hard when it did.

— Do you need help, majesty?

—No. But you gotta know that I’ll go up to the deck tonight and sit under the mast, maybe I'll even ask if I can play spades, like a merchant. Consider making up your mind until then. 

Lucas had nothing to say, because his words had flown away. Deep down he knew it was him who battled and complained with the prince’s patience until he got him tired and bossy, but at the same time he could not imagine any other way to act. All that he did was what his heart told him to do. 

The fact of staying with Ten through the whole morning of reading writing and sealing papers for Per Saxa’s priest and church was like a slow burn punishment, getting to fall on Ten’s expansive boredom.

For more that the prince tried to focus on the legal wording of those paragraphs, he knew he couldn’t get to fully understand them anymore.

All the day was under the control of a tense silence broken only by the scratching pen on paper and the sporadic change of short phrases when Ten didn’t know how he should convey a sentence correctly and asked Lucas for brief counseling. 

The king of Ignis thought religion was an extended practice in his lands but that they didn’t have a well developed system of clerics so he decided it was convenient to accord some exchanges with Per Saxa's clerical union, since it was the country with the highest percentage of people devoted to the faith of the Dual Gods. So far, he had decided to send a high range to appoint the mission, laying a sense of importance and seriousness to the task and appear like an extremely elegant and composed nation in front of the commoners of both Ignis and Saxa, who watched all the process and spoke about it.

A mission overseas always was a great event, since it required a long trip, a big vessel, a day for boarding with the opportunity for all the neighbors to gather on their windows and watch the unusual march of a prince through the city. Thus, the news of the king’s purpose spreaded like a wildfire.

Ten was not an exception. When the rumor of voices came to his ears he ran across the palace so quickly that he came to the throne salon panting. He asked, begged, threw himself to the king’s feet for him to approve him as ambassador just for once in his life. He almost broke in pieces and recomposed back up when Lucas came up with the message that it was his first approved diplomatic mission. He had jumped to him and hugged his tall and goofy friend that could not stop laughing with him, soaked in emotions. 

And there they were now, unable to cross a couple of sentences without making an argument happen. 

After all of that, when the last of the papers was finished and signed, waiting on top of the desk for the ink to dry even four days before they had to arrive, the prince made a gesture to Lucas with his head, like asking to be excused, and left the table for the bathroom.

The page watched him come and go, pushing his hair and holding it back with pins in front of the mirror so it won’t get on his eyes with the sporadic blows of the wind that characterized the deck.

The prince was beautiful. 

He had changed the opulent red of his nation that usually wore on his clothes for a gentler shade of pink during his stance in the vessel. The coat over it , cinched to his tight waist, was pearled white, making Ten look sweet despite the evident resentment that dominated the space between him and his page. His hair, once more, was adorned with pins, and even not wearing a crown, the long stripes of satin that hung from a couple of brooches, flowed behind him when he walked, giving him the aspect of a strange fairy. 

—Are you coming with me, Lucas?— asked the prince one last time as he put on the long, light cape that completed the outfit over his shoulders and opened the cabin’s door.

— I don’t think so, majesty.

— As you please, then.

Thought it was not the ideal, and his heart felt somehow betrayed by his page and friend, the vivid feeling of coming back to the noisy deck with people in conversations, laughs and still sun up in the sky was a relief. 

Ten walked with his hands laced behind his back and moved towards the center mast where he knew the typical circle of friends would be gathering. And, indeed, it took him only a few steps on sight of the boys for the figure of Johnny, topped with his bouncy short ponytail, to raise up and wave at him energetically, moving like if he wasn’t almost two meters tall and he needed to make himself visible with effort. 

—Prince Ten!— he yelled.

Doyoung, who was seated with them too, hit the jewells merchant's arm watching him put up such a tapage for a royal.

— Hello, Johnny— he laughed, nonetheless— And good evening, sirs, may I join you today?

—Naturally! We were missing your presence, majesty.

Johnny gestured towards the box that was always there, with its content being ignored as they just used it as a chair. Of course, he felt the sparkle of happiness come to wash away the bitter sensation of the evening so the prince approached the circle and sat there to look at the current state of the “table”, but he didn’t ask to join the game yet. 

He was starting to think that the captain of their cruise held some addiction to gambling, seeing how concentrated he was on the falling cards. Not more than Taeil, by the way. The older of thr merchants had accumulated the classic pile of coins, trademark of his side of the board when they played anything.

The game was already going by, and still with two tricks to go, the number ascended to seven coins and one of Johnny’s clasp earrings with a drop of jade hanging from it, that joined the stakes when Taeil pulled out a joker.

— Are you kidding me?— jumped out Jaehyun, who was pairing with Johnny again in some kind of masochist envisionment of life— You can’t play a joker alone.

— What stops me?

— The rules? 

— The rules? We always play with jokers, Johnny, tell him.

— He is not going to defend that, Taeil— said Doyoung almost indignated— Not if he loses the hand with it, it would be stupid... 

— Come on— said Jaehyun extending his palm over the table— That earring is not yours.

— The money wasn’t mine two rounds ago, either, and look at it piling. Merchants play jokers with no back up cards, that’s it.

— You son of a... 

— Jaehyun, let it go— said Johnny, patting his back and turning his face to show his other side profile with the couple of the jewel— I have the other one.

This weak reason made Jaehyun sigh and nod, only looking at Taeil like if he had killed a child.

The prince didn’t get how that was a convincing argument for Jaehyun, but that was just due to his absence the previous days, because all the other players could tell very well that things between those two were a bit special.

It was the musician's turn to draw a card but the game was slightly interrupted by the friendly apparition of Taeyong.

— Good evening, gentlemen.

He walked across the deck towards their direction and took the attention of the players, giving Jaehyun a chance to look harder at Taeil and threaten him, save from Johnny's call on  
patience.

— You are a cheater, you know that? A fucking cheater. I know you well, Taeil, I have listened to you brag about how you get rich playing unfair with cards many, many times, so you better freaking give me that earring back.  
— Don’t get stressed— said Taeil with a smirk, knowing damn well what was the reason behind Jaehyun's agitation— You are on the presence of a prince, save your curses for something better than a jade drop.

Not that the mentioned royal was even listening to the blasphemies that Jaehyung had given himself the luxury of saying, for he was more attentive of Taeyong, coming out from the depth of the vessel as if he had appointed the hour to appear with the prince.

The mercer greeted all of them with a tilt of his head and a smile, kind of ignoring that Jaehyun was putting up a fight against Taeil again, and walked in between the group with elegance. He was carrying a stretcher frame with his corresponding fabric trapped on it, being that the first and only thing that made him really look like a mercer to the rest of the group since they met for the first time.

It had to be true that that was his job. 

—Here, majesty— Taeyong said as greeting, putting his hand in front of his face, lining with his eyes. The needle was thin and almost imperceptible between his index finger and thumb. Ten’s eyes shone when he looked up to him, questioning to which extent that was what he thought it was— Try to thread the needle. If you do it, I’ll teach you something.

Jaehyun and Doyoung seemed to find the challenge short of appalling, since never they heard that a member of the royal house had to fulfill requirements given by not only a lower class, but a commoner.

Taeyong always had the biggest entrances, to the point of getting everyone really confused about his nature sometimes. Nonetheless, Ten took the needle from his fingers and asked him for the thread, closing his eyes almost to crescent moon shapes, concentrating in the task of making the tiny body of the thread fit inside the eye of the needle.

Meanwhile, Taeyong sat in the circle and started doodling something on the material as if nothing had happened between them. 

— Look at those two. Since when can they bare with each other?— asked Johnny, leaning in closer to Jaehyun so he could wishper in his ear— Taeyong gave him the cold shoulder and he got him all pissed, naturally. Who does that with a prince? And with _such_ a prince...

— I don’t know. Taeyong seems quite mild, I don't think he espites him.

—They found the weirdest pastime, uh? Why don't you teach me something, too?— insinuated Johnny with a melodious tone, provoking a light smile in Jaehyun, who just brushed his face away with a chuckle— Maybe I can learn to play your zhiter...

— Teaching you stuff? With your hands? I don’t think so… 

— Why not? Scared i can play better than you do?

— I think you already know too much, you savvy— said Jaehyun, this time being him who leaned on Johnny that, for the surprise of the presents that were still looking at them and the card's game, flinched almost imperceptibly— What about you teach me, instead?

— You are interested in goldsmithing?— asked Taeil.

Both Jaehyun and Johnny turned their faces slowly to the merchant, not giving credit to the seriousness of the question, but Jaehyun suspected he made it just to pick on him again.

It was not his fault that he couldn't get laid.

Taeyong pressed his lips on a thin line, suppressing a cackle, but Doyoung, far from pretending, puffed and rolled his eyes.

— Merchants this days… someone needs to upgrade the exams.

— Taeyong— called the prince calm, dragging the attention to him again.

The mercer was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, under the box where his majesty was sitting, and didn’t move his eyes from the task going on his hands when he answered.

— Majesty?— the younger one let the thread hang in doubles above the mercer’s head, the needle hanging on its end in front of him.

— Your needle.

He caught it in the air with a smile and rapidly tied a knot at the other end of the thread. He pricked the fabric and made it go through it until the knot stopped the thread. Then he looked up to the prince, seating above him with his legs hanging from the box and gestured with his head for him to come down.

— Sit with me, prince.

— Are you sure you are doing this?

— For some reason, I am. Let’s try.

With any reluctance, Ten slipped down from the box to sit on the floor. Watched by all the presents that forgot how their game was developing, he let himself go down, his long attire flowing behind him like a waterfall of silk.

This distraction, to not skip andy detail, gave a chance for Jaehyun’s rapid reflexes to take Johnny’s jade earring from the table and let it slide under his sleeve. If Taeil could cheat, he would cheat back, of course. The attention wasn’t on him, anyways, but on the certain smile of Taeyong when he gave the needle back to the prince and watched him struggle to sink the needle where he told him to do it and in the way he told him to do it, following the lines of his sketch, about four inches long in the middle of the black clothe

—Do you know this blazon?

— Yes, I do. I have seen it in my books.

— Yeah, of course you had to know— said Taeyong under his breath— You make a strange Prince. 

— Have you done a lot of them with your needle?

— Some. Just for a few costumes of Ignis carnival. Windbreakers don’t exist anymore as a militia, and no one asks for their heraldry to be put on stuff anymore. 

— That’s so sad, no one seems to like them anymore or talk about them besides you. I guess that now I know that and that you are good storyteller, I could ask you to tell me some good stories about them.

— You are a stubborn one, aren’t you? 

— You don’t know how much— he replied with enough courage to look up and hold his gaze.

Johnny’s well defined eyebrows raised up to the comment, instantly, and looked at the bard by his side, noticing that he was still close enough to him for being heard if just whispering. Their breaths mixed together, without further warning, and their eyes searched for each other’s own, like if they need a refugee to share murmurs.

It was a movement that permeated their habits silently. 

—Prince Ten is really something else.

Jaehyun rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Such a player he was, Johnny Suh, always teasing and having every door open for possibilities. His merchant mind always looked to all the possible ways to take and, to be honest, the tiny and minimus chance of Johnny feeling some kind of attraction to nothing less than the Prince of Ignis, made Jaehyun deeply jealous.

— What do you mean? 

— I don’t know, people believe that the princes of Ignis are really ethereal and pure, right?— Jaehyun nodded with the knowledge of his adoptive city in mind while he ordered the cards in his hand distracted— Well… pure my ass.

— He didn’t say anything, you just have a dirty mind.

— It’s not me, you see, he has a twisted way of looking at things that betrays him, in my opinion. He is straight-up bold. To me, he doesn’t look innocent.

— Is that so? I understand now why you are so attentive of our majesty— Jaehyun shot his words _almost_ without wanting it, queue for Johnny to drag his weight across the floor and get closer to him with an inquisitive move and glare.

None of them both flinched, that time. Of course not.

Jaehyun hooded his eyes, falling in the mood for love completely, getting ready for the impact.

— What’s your argument there? 

— You are always lured by those attitudes in people. Subtle. Dreamy... Lewd.

Jaehyun rested a hand on his shoulder and slowly went down, as he spoke, trying to touch every spot that he had learned Johnny found weak and sensitive, and his eyes falling straight to his lips when he pronounced the last of the words. His skin was waking sparkles on Johnny’s skin even under the sheer of the tunic. He finally ended up holding his hand.

The youngest looked at him in the eye just in time to watch the merchant’s honey orbs shine in surprise like he wanted, when the drop of jade landed on his palm.

Jaehyun almost licked his own lips when he saw the subtle blush of Johnny’s cheeks.

— Can you please have some consideration with your things? They suit you well.  
— Jaehyun, you know I have a short fuse— warned Johnny. The bard wrapped his hand around his and pulled him a bit closer, the tip of their noses almost touching before he could repeat it to him in a much lower tone, as well as riskier— Very, very short. And it’s burning down at an interesting speed.  
— Which makes this cruise much more fun.  
— For the gods, this is getting me ill— complained Doyoung, taking them out of their bubble abruptly and making Johnny gather the fabric of his tunic out of the way, dramatically recalling the last time he heard someone said that and had to toss his clothes from the window.

— Don’t even try with them— said Taeil— I know ‘em for years now, the flirty flirt happens every other day. It's like the cycle of the moon. 

As if they were paying attention to the captain and acknowledged his awkward mood, sparked by nothing else than their game, they decided to stand up and, pass the deck’s container to Taeil.

— I’m out this game— he told Taeil, easygoing and almost without detaching his eyes from the bard to look at him— Take my coins, whatsoever.

— See?— said Taeil to Doyoung with a smile as the other two pushed and pulled jokingly from each other on their way to wherever, and he put the money in his pocket and the cards in the box— Johnny has a tender heart, Jaehyun has a king sized bed, and I have seven coins more in my pocket. Everyone is happy.

— I’m starting to think that you are a sociopath, Lord Taeil— commented the prince. 

Just in the moment Ten's eyes left the fabric for a moment to focus on Taeil, the couturier took over his hand trying to avoid the disaster that concerned him in his mind and guide the stitch of the prince with a bristle of conformation with the volatile attention of his "pupil".

He seemed to have patience enough to teach a little bit of his skill to the prince, but that didn’t exclude it from being really unusual and nerve-wracking.

Ten soon returned to watch what he had between his hands, but Taeyong had already noticed the eyes of the captain and the merchant, as well as the ones of anyone that was around the deck and had a sprinkle of gossiping curiosity over the royal house of Ignis and their matters, specially when he was there rolling around the floor in the most un-royal way.

—Me?— laughed Taeil— Why?

Taeyong didn’t like to be stared at, and in addition, felt a bit awkward for those who were judging him with their eyes.

He remembered that something was off.

To be more specific, he noticed that the touch of Ten's skin under his palm was really soft and warm, letting go off his hand quite fast to just hold the stretcher up for him instead. 

— I thought you were only stupid, but your majesty is right— replied Doyoung amused— You are, perhaps, just a merchant with the correct skills. 

— Yeah, but I’m not teaching anything to you, guys, like the patient mercer right here— said Taeil jokingly— Lord Taeyong is too kind, I'm afraid. Trading with spices it’s competitive enough to add myself more opponents in the field. I don’t need a pupil to dethrone me.

— Call me delusional but I don’t think sir Taeyong finds our prince like a competitor, ain’t that right?

The truth is that Doyoung only made the question as a way to follow the conversation, since his hard appearance of a captain was just a part of him and he also liked to play and be witty, but Taeyong looked up to the prince, this time really questioning what kind of opinion he had attached to his person. 

The prince too looked up, startled by the heavy attention that was falling over him, just in time to see Taeyong flashing a dim smile to him. 

As for Jaehyun and Johnny, making their way down the stairs... 

It was a mess, like always. Or more fair to be called an ordered chaos.

They weren't good at deciding who wanted the other more, nor who was going to play hard to get each time. Both were a constant push-and-pull with the other and with themselves, so their playfulness translated into a walk of shared laughs and risquè caresses towards the vessel's rooms until they reached the stairway and flew down swiftly, hand in hand, slipping away from the eyes of the curious tripulation.

— Jaeh-

His name was cut between their lips, for the bard has thrown himself against Johnny's frame, holding him in his embrace and kissing his lips with a hungry abandonment of himself as soon as they were alone.

Johnny was a tall and broad man, but Jaehyun wasn't far behind, either, and his excitement was enough to make the eldest stumble back and bump his back against the vessel's narrow wooden walls.

If it wasn't impossible for Jaehyun to forget his taste, he would have sworn he didn't recall it. It was so long since the last time. Long enough to call it an excessive time.

Johnny pulled back for a moment, since he needed to breathe again, the air coming in almost sharply. He dedicated a second to a surprised glance at the bard's unusual impetus, but it quickly passed by, and he shrugged his shoulders content with the results.

— Yours or mine?— panted Jaehyun, eagerly.

—Yours— said Johnny while being pulled from the lapel of his yellow jacket towards the lily decorated doors, following the bard with a silly smirk put on his face— It's bigger, and I want us to do it on every flat surface.

—Oh, Doyoung is going to hate us if he discovers that we are doing in every nook and corner of his holy vessel.  
— Jaehyun?— chuckled Johnny as he let his friend push him pass the threshold with the perverse tint on his tone, almost as if piss Doyoung off was just one more additional reason for them to go a little wild. That was more of the thing that Johnny would suggeest, but they say everything's catching, sooner or later— Are you okay?

—Yes— affirmed Jaehyun, immensely sure as he pulled the cord of his very own robe to open it in halves and got back to Johnny's body to kiss the hollow spot behind his ear—I just missed you.

— We have been together for days now. Three or four. 

The bard more than knew that Johnny was pulling that sentence out just to tease him, pretending that he didn't understand what he meant, but he didn't care, his brain was going one lightyear per second and his body was already too heated. As for his hands, they traveled upon Johnny's body lacking a fixed pattern, with the sole object of feeling him close.

— You know what I mean, Johnny. I miss the kind of you that got me all done in a back shop, the last time

The merchant's heart raced a little, and his breathing quickened at his confession. The solitary memory of the concrete scene he recalled, paired with the sight of Jaehyun's thin tunic opening over his collarbone and his chest, almost sliding down from one shoulder as the golden feather shaped pendant hung on his chest; filling him up slowly.

Jaehyun didn't need any ornament, his body was beautiful all alone. It looked like it was only possible in someone's optimistic imagination, with fit lines of muscles under his thin and smooth skin that made Johnny want to touch him in the most delicate of the ways and, at the same time, ruin the entire thing with a festival of love bites.

To worsen the injury, the musician did a slow movement brushing his lustrous, soft hair back so Johnny could specifically admire how he looked with his exposed forehead. As well, his long lashes illuminated against the sun rays of the late evening going down and slipping through the windows.

It was a direct hit to Johnny's already agitated senses, so he listened to his most basic instinct of wounding his fingers through his almost blonde hair and pulling him down to his mouth, kissing him again and holding his face so he couldn't go away.

His free hand fell to his hips and pushed him closer to his front, making Jaehyun exhale in his mouth.

— Do you remember that, Johnny? What we did that time? You were between my legs and your hair was damp and messy... I love when your hair gets messy.

He murmured with a breath drenched in thirst, as he pushed Johnny down on the huge bed, and stranded him, hands undoing the ponytail of his hair and tangling on his brown long locks.

— And I love when I am between your legs.

The eldest could sign up for that to be what heaven felt like, especially when Jaehyun bucked his hips into his own. The bard knew how hot having him on his lap made him, everytime, and he still did it on purpose with that all mighty smirk of his.

_How many times makes something an habit?_

Even as powerful as the first grinding already was, Jaehyun began picking up the pace, going back and forth like a tide or one of the waves that swayed the ship in the middle of the open sea, tempting Johnny to grow impatient and desperate, pushing him to an edge where he knew perfectly, by experience, that would result into Johnny entering the rough mood. Once or twice, Jaehyun even caught his lips between his teeth, to enhance the possibilities.

His hands got busy, stripping Johnny down too, for their skin to feel against each other without barriers. He took his time, pulling just a piece of clothes off at a time and kissing his neck just as paused.

With clothes on, Johnny already looked hot, but Jaehyun proved many times that without them, he could look even better. His shoulders were built and warm to the touch. His skin was smooth, and wearing just about the right golden tan that made him want to tease his tongue all along his neck to see what the taste of it was.

The heat filled in the chamber, beads of sweat adorned the bard's collar but Johnny took it as a chance and hooked his fingers on the waistband of Jaehyun's pants, pulling down from them, teasing him back with the slow pace.

The wait was worthy for him, since he got to admiring every inch of Jaehyun with time and great care. 

Jaehyun kicked the pants off with an agile and almost flexible movement, falling back to Johnny's lap and making the eldest let out an accidental whimper of bliss when he bounced on his crotch, growing sensitive by the minute due to the bard's playful ministrations.

He couldn't hold back any longer, latching his mouth around Jaehyun's nipple and sucking, biting slightly on it until he could feel it hard under his tongue.

Jaehyun let out a slight gasp and a smile together with his goosebumps.

How did they get to that point?

Two friends meeting over the dinner table a few years ago had become that. Had become a mismatch of feelings, always oscillating between being everything and nothing, pulling back and forth with the spasmodic feeling of their meetings being sentenced to end collapsing against the imperius need of enjoying the other. 

— Get rid of those pants, John— almost demanded the bard as he got a red circle blooming on his collar and the hands of his friend falling down to caress his inner thighs— Now, or I- 

A small and quiet moan rolled out his tongue before he could complete his sentence, caused by the way in which Johnny held him on his hand, brushing his thumb over the tip and down the entire length of it, spreading the moist in a delightful way.

Jaehyun was not an easy man, and with all, his back accidentally arched, with Johnny's hand wrapping around him and slowly pumping, his eyes falling close to give up to the feeling.

— Don't rush it— mumbled Johnny, the vibration of his voice over his neck joining the grip of his hand, driving his senses near collapse— If you missed me so much, don't rush it.

Jaehyung felt himself fall back on the mattress of the bed he had in the vessel, his hair spilling on the white pillow while Johnny managed to make him part his legs, winning a considerable space to position between them.

He had a tangled relationship with the way Johnny liked things to flow so slow, it drove him round the bend and, worse than that, it made him feel more.

Johnny always did more.

The most.

And that turned his mind to spin a bit too fast. So fast, heavy and confused with sensations that, that night on board, it finally made his tongue loose and his lips part with four trembling words.

— Make love to me.

Johnny took a second to observe him, after the sentence escaped on a gasp and opened the first tiny crack of a vast rift.

The bard also returned him the glance with wide eyes, building, for a brief moment, a bridge between them that had been in construction for a long time.

It felt like the moment was crystallized in time, in that dusty vessel chamber, and they two were the only things that ever mattered to each other.

He had never said it like that, so directly and with the L word in between.

At first, Johnny thought it was because Jaehyun wasn't as inclined as him to speak in the bedroom, more faithful to the action, but he had later noticed that what happened was that they had never talked about them kissing out of a sudden impulse one night, or about how they were actually getting used to having sex. Repeatedly. To the point they started being very conscious of what they liked and how. They just did all of it and forgot to think about all the world surrounding their choices.

Or maybe they thought about them but were too scared to voice them.

— Always have and always will.

Only a deep sigh of relief and pleasure came out from Jaehyun after that, as the eldest began stroking his shaft with his hand again, still too slow but sure enough to make Jaehyun go fully hard, which was not really helpful to his very own desperation when his mouth also came down to play with him and give him more pleasure, sliding it in, pace speeding up then slowing down and going back too fast to swirlhis tongue around him.

And to think, that a bard, and a specially seductive one like Jaehyun, was very likely to have a long list of suitors and yet no one had ever done it like Johnny.

No one took care of him like Johnny, no one made him last in the cloud as long as him. 

He easily noticed his own breathing had became ragged, his hips trusting up, further into his mouth and deeper every time he repeated the move, meeting his pace with coordination.

  
— I'm so close— moaned Jaehyun, loud and quite euphoric, a smile blooming on his face and his back tensing with his whole body as Johnny sucked harder on the tip.

He made him happy. 

Jaehyun was about to fist his hair and push his head down, but instead, he was left with the shiver of his legs as Johnny pulled back from him and his member pulsed against the cold air of the chamber.

He opened his mouth but his words were gone, only an exasperated swallow of air sounded.

— Come here— Said Johnny with a smirk, pulling from his hand to sit him up and catching him on a damp and messy kiss that, to be honest, made Jaehyun's cheeks warm up in a red color, merely out of hisbown taste on Johnny’s lips and swelling infatuation.

Johnny pushed the purple tunic off his shoulders to get him totally naked.

— What was all that about?— Wined the bard still standing on bliss— Don't stop now  
— Haste trips up it's own heels, babe.  
—Haste? Fuck off, Johnny— Getting Jaehyun to course was about the highest type of satisfaction Johnny could get to feel, for he knew that meant he really was burning like a candle.  
— You can save all your expletives for the final stretch.

He was grinning under a passionate kiss, rejoicing on having Jaehyun right what he wanted him, his hands traveling down his naked sides again squeezing his ass with his hands. He pulled his cheeks apart, slowly pressing his fingers down.

— Can I?

— Yes.

Jaehyun's eyes fluttered, a hiss out of his mouth while he surrendered to him and his fingers taking care of him.

It was so damp already and Johnny, who was a complete giver, won't stop it any time soon. Not when Jaehyun took the time to verbalize that he wanted the merchant, who had his heart thumping inside his chest.

Johnny was beyond convinced in having him all for himself, with more force each day that passed, going through the dilemma of untold sentiments and even the jealousy of not being the only one for him.

It only impulsed them towards rougher passion and a bigger need of the other.

Jaehyun trembled again, as he stood on his elbows, under the action of his hand. He moaned. He always sounded beautiful, his voice was so velvety and magical than even his moans sounded musically.

His eyes were shut when Johnny wrapped his arms behind his bent knees and pushed him towards his own body, leaning down and watching his face as he slowly start to slide in, inch by inch, until he was all in and stopped it to hold it for a second.

— Ah, shit, that's how you do it— hissed Jaehyun with his voice filtered by bliss and his head flopping back. Nonetheless, his hips circled his hips deliciously for Johnny, who was equally turnt up and twitching inside him— Holy Phisus, God of Light, full of Grace.

— Amen— Said Johnny with a small chuckle, turned groan. 

He placed his hands on Jaehyun's hips as he thrusted back and forward, strokes long and slow at first. Nonetheless, doing it slow all the way through was a damn torture, and they picked up the speed, turning it passionate enough to make the bed squeak, under their weight.He got the brief flashing thought of Doyoung's grumpy mood in the morning after all of that and almost smiled. It lasted just a hundredth of a second before Johnny started going deeper and his mind went blank in order to let his body ignite with his rapture.   
  
Moments like that were a million golden coins worthy.

Jaehyun forgot every doubt and hesitation about where he was going or what was he trying. It made him quit all his fears and focus on Johnny pounding in his body, joining him in a loud mess of moaning and heavy panting, of sloppy kisses and tries of hitting a better angle with sporadic victories in that duty.

He just made everything feel different; since he tried Johnny out, everyone else seemed so dull and boring... and Jaehyun didn't know how to tell him that he wasn't capable of bringing other people to his bedroom anymore.

He wanted to give the most for him too, make Johnny want to come back to him again. He really wanted Johnny to need him and not be the only one caught in that feeling, almost as if Johnny himself wasn't already besotted to the core.

It didn't matter, none of them knew about the other.

Jaehyun rolled his hips even more, tight around him and moving contrary to his pace to build more sensation. It made his air go out from his lungs and he groaned while he quite much enjoyed his homage, his hands closing on the bed cover full of embroidered lilies and his eyes shutting hard enough to make the stars explode on his eyelids while the Seventh Heaven came down to get him and also Johnny, who pulled back just in time to end everything with a hot drippin half over him and half on the bed covers.

And then, the silence.

That "what have we done?" silence broken only by their laboured breaths trying to catch up to their normal respiration.

Frozen there, Johnny's face prompted on Jaehyun's shoulder and the youngest's hands caressed the back of his hair in a tender way.

The merchant looked up into his eyes.

His face was still as pretty, his eyes charming and the green shine of the small earrings lost in between the mass of dark ruffled hair.

They were very close. Closer each time.

Jaehyun saw Johnny's eyes going down to his lips.

  
— Can I...?— he didn't complete the question he murmured, that was, by the way, so ridiculous after what they just finished doing.  
— Yes— he quickly answered, still too sexed out to pretend he had to think twice about it. 

  
Johnny leaned on him, joining their lips in a much more cautious kiss, hesitating, even, as an attempt to know where they were standing.

Were both their hearts fluttering? It was only him?

It would have been so bizarre to be a one-sided sentiment, because a kiss that felt so familiar and comforting in ways he could never describe with words, didn't have so many chances to be from just half a heart.

The kiss would have lasted longer, for years, if possible, but a loud and violent thud suddenly shook the Storm's Lily in all its length, throwing Jaehyun's things to the floor and making a gad lamp almost land over them and crack on the floor.

  
— Shit, Doyoung, fucking take drivin classes— slurred Johnny as he got up, almost obligated.

He put on his pants and walked through the chamber in search of his tunic, Jaehyun observing him with an amused and mischievous grin and his hair falling over his eyes from all the... movement.

Johnny was something else. His butt all alone was a feast, but the rest of the body did anything but complete the set

— The heck is wrong with this man, I promise.

— Is he drinking in service hours?

— Maybe he is distracted looking at Jisoo again.  
— Who? The librarian?  
— Yeah, haven't you noticed?— laughed Jaehyun softly. He wasn't the most indicated person to laugh about someone else's struggle identifying a crush— He is always trying to make her comfortable, and the other day when I was playing music at the deck, and for every passenger's misfortune I'd dare to say, he invited her for a dance. It was the most awkward thing I have ever seen.   
— Ah, really? What a scene—he said, finally tying his jacket back on place— Does he know how to dance with a partner?

— For my surprise, he does. 

— Unbelievable. But, I'll go check what goes on. Be right back.  
— Don't you take too long— teased Jaehyun— Maybe I have time and energy for a second round if you are fast.

Johnny gave him a dark smile to let him know he was up to it, and then he left the chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprised? hahaha. I hope you enjoyed this ride... The first version of this fanfic used to have a "censored" way to present some scenes (for various reasons regarding my beta readers), and that's why, at first, i didn't know if tag as smut ot not, but i finally decided to post the "extended" scenes. If you read the first version in AF, you must be new to the entire scene of JohnJae. Let me know, anyways, if you guys preffer the uncensored way in the comments :)


	7. Lily's Storm

The night had fallen above the sail, unusual without the tunes from Jaehyun’s zither once the crew started giving him coins for it.

The wind was blowing strong, backed up by the late hours of the night that hid its intentions to mortals, and Ten felt like leaving the thick cloak back in his chamber was not the best idea in spite of how good he looked wearing the cape. 

With all, the wind felt gentle against their skin still, not annoying them beyond the messing of their hair and some clouds being dragged across the sky. 

This last thing seemed to be the biggest pity, because after consulting the astrolabium, Jeno had warned them that it would be a good night to see the tranquil pattern of stars shining on that black velvet tapestry that was the sky. The moon was shining beautiful from behind them, but it was not so perceptible with the artificial white light of kerosene lanterns on board.

Doyoung was long gone on the upper deck where he was piloting next to Jeno who, standing right beside him even though his turn had already ended, looked like he was getting more talkative once they were approaching their destiny and only half of the distance separated them from Per Saxa country ahead.

Officer Jeno was the only person that talked to Doyoung while on the wheel without being rejected or slowly washed away, but that was caused by the way they both stood on the same lane and knew the same respect to the art of navigation. 

As for Taeil, the merchant decided to take his way to the dining room in sight of the prolonged absence of Johnny and Jaehyun and the subsequent boredom of not being able to play cards with anyone.

Sometimes it happened, when it was just the two of them, that Johnny and Jaehyun could forget about everything else in the world and fall asleep next to each other quite easily. Taeil had said that he knew well because it wouldn’t be the first time for him to knock on Johnny’s door for almost half an hour with the latter not even trying to let go of Jaehyun. But apparently, none of the two stupids had the guts or the sense to settle that down, so it was a come and go of games between them. Taeil didn’t want to step on that, though. 

Only Taeyong was left on the deck, but it looked like nor him, neither the prince could find the strength to go to bed just yet. 

Teaching embroidery to Ten was not easy, but it wasn't hard either. Taeyong was surprised to see that the prince was listening to his lesson, speaking politely and in a friendly way from time to time but focused on the task.

It must have been true, what Johnny was chit chatting the first day when he found out that the prince was going to travel with them, saying with admiration that the three princes of Ignis were rumored to have a lot of talents and skills besides the potential outside beauty. Maybe Ten was just used to sit down and learn lessons, a thing that would have finally give an explanation to Taeyong about why he was always searching for something fun to do beyond the imaginary imprisonment of his room. 

With half of the blazon done, which was a little bit wavy in shape but good enough overall, they both got tired and left the stretcher aside due to the itching of their eyes calling up the fatigue and the sleepy feeling and carried away by the conversation. 

— Majesty, you look like you lack sleep hours— giggled the mercer. Ten knew that Taeyong was watching him while he looked up at the sky, but he was focused in scrutinizing the thickness of the clouds that spoiled the possibility of stargazing— Looking at this embroider… I expected worse, but it's not that bad.

Ten inhaled the air slowly and deeply, reflecting on those words one by one. 

Unexpectedly, the frustration made an appearance inside his heart after all day under the insistence on the numerous things he was insufficient at. The quivering of his calligraphy, his attitude, his etiquette, his protocol and now, the way he saw.

It was disappointing even to hear it jokingly from Taeyong, knowing that it was indeed a funny remark to cheer him up in the silent night. 

The mercer looked back at him due to his prolonged silence and the absence of his recurrent laugh towards his jokes, or just a quick and loquacious counter attack. 

He found the prince looking at him too. 

Ten sighed defeated. 

— Not that bad?

—Well— Taeyong snorted. To find out that he was being eyed like that was not his cup of tea and didn’t hold any kind of good acceptations to his consideration— I hope you didn’t expect me to praise you just because. 

— It’s my first time, I was putting effort— he said, fighting, letting out his build up exasperation.

— What do you want me to say, then? That all you do is flourished and neat?

— I don’t want a senseless applause, but a little bit of friendly encouragement won’t be bad.

— “Friendly”? 

— Yes, Taeyong, friendly. Do you know the meaning of friendly?

— Me? Well, what do _you_ know about friends?

— I have friends, for your information. Lucas is my friend.

—Is not a friend if you pay him— he snapped. 

Ten felt something erupting from his inside, seeming to be a new and horrible feeling that happened when both anger and sadness mixed together.

He didn’t want to fight, not with Taeyong too, but he felt so bitter that he couldn’t let it go just like that, a bunch of scathing comments crowding together and battling to leave his mouth.

—With people like you to choose, I can guess I’m better off alone.

—People like me?—he spat— What is it? Are you tired that I don't do everything you say and that I don’t put up a party every time you show up? You are not from my motherland, you are not my prince.

—I don’t think any prince it’s your prince, Taeyong—he said, more tired than upset.

The mercer let out his air out and gave an ice cold gaze to him.

— I shouldn’t have even batted an eye for you, okay? But you had to look my way and choose me as the current little toy.

— I’m not toying with you, why are you always on the defensive?

Taeyong was close to answer him something else, he knew it, he saw it, but then the mercer just opened his mouth and looked at the prince standing in front of him, holding his piece of embroidery, so he finally sighed. 

—You know what? Fighting with you like this doesn’t have a point, so let me alone. Because this is a ship, the farthest I can go from you is across this deck— he reproached, clearly pissed off and dragging Ten down with him in that pit of senseless spite caused by the gathering misunderstandings in just one little piece of conversation— So I'll just pray to the Gods to give us a convenient wind that takes us to the coast as soon as possible.

The prince darted him with the agraviated shine of his eyes and jumped, getting on his feet quickly. 

— Pray, stupid, pray.

According to the religious books, people who decline the gods are prone to make them mad with their insincere pleads, when they swear over someone or when they are edging death and use them for a last hypocrite redemption.

Mixing both the prince and Taeyong to talk about prayers was a terrible idea, from an outsider’s point of view.

The wind blew on the sails making them sound like a whip when they swelled. A cold chill went down Ten’s spine when the ship swayed with a hasty violence, and the speed went up considerably.

In less than a minute, the deck started flooding with the black coated bodies of the sailors, undoing knots and passing this and that order from the captain. 

As their murmur grew up, it came to Ten’s ears that it seemed like there was an upcoming storm ahead, and the hostility of the sea around that zone took them all out to work.

—Lower the sails!— Doyoung’s voice cut the air fiercely— We are entering a violent groundswell zone!! Lower all the sails, immediately, and all hands on deck!! 

The prince froze in place and directed a gelid but scared look to the person he was arguing with moments before, just to find him as shocked as him, with his eyes set on the sailors’ hard intent of pulling those enormous white clothes down. 

Tawyong briefly looked up to the sky in confusion, the drops of water starting to fall shyly from the gray clouds above. As soon as one of them landed on his forehead, the cold kiss activated him again.

He looked at the prince, alarmed, before walking towards him. 

Ten felt the mercer grabbing him by the elbow with more decision than he ever had expected from him when it came to approach him.

— Go to your chamber.

— But- 

— Go!— He pushed from him to emphasize that he should be leaving.

Both of them should.

The first quiet drops of rain gave entrance to a thicker and heavier one, wetting all the wood of the deck.

— All passengers to the cabins!— demanded Officer Jeno as he passed by them, flashing that he was, indeed, a boy educated in military and not only the peaceful kid that practiced his calligraphy in his free time. He kicked the always present box to move it away from his path and grabbed a rope, untying the knots, ready to pull down from the sail, even if he had to pull it by himself. Thankfully that wasn't necessary, and a couple of sailors also grabbed the same rope and helped— I don’t want to see anyone without a black uniform in this deck! 

But the panic had taken over the lower floors of the sail already when the abrupt whip of wind made its body shake, knocking over a bunch of the cabins’ mirrors and boxes.

The deck was a mess of passengers trying to go down wanting to hide inside the rooms until the work was done, and the ones that were inside trying to go out and ask about the arising storm. 

Lucas was in the latter group.

Soon after he left the staircase, the water welcomed his face with an already insistent fall.

His grimace when he saw his prince standing there with Taeyong reflected the imminent realization that no matter where they were and no matter what he could have thought before leaving Ignis, Ten still was in need of a keeper and he had ignored the gravity of the task of taking care of him being selfish. 

—What are you doing!? Are you out of your mind!?— he said running to him and grabbing his hand as soon as the distance let him do it, dragging Ten across the vessel’s surface and practically snatching him from Taeyong’s hold, the latter getting lost behind them as he ran to hide the prince in their chamber— Let’s get in, this is not safe, this is not it! 

Ten's position was not one to complain, because he felt a deep uneasiness that had him almost as worried for their fight as he was for the storm. He was just blank and regretful, so he let Lucas pull and he followed him like a child being dragged by his mother, trying not to slip on any of the puddles forming on the floor. 

The sky looked ugly and immense in the night and he discovered with horror that the colors of the clouds and the water had become the same dark grey, like a continuous mass of darkness.

He was lifeless and only succeeded in the act of clinging on Lucas, who was tall enough to ground him on his place and keep the rain from getting in his eyes. 

—Jeno, pull down the sails!!— Doyoung’s voice crossed the air.

That was followed by a second noise that drowned down Jeno’s voice responding that he was trying, loud enough to almost make Ten wonder if it was a thunder on the vast firmament or the wood of the _Storm's Lily_ cracking mercilessly from its deepest bottom. By the way, both Lucas and him, together with half of the presents on the deck, tripped and fell like yanked by an invisible string, so he guessed that it was the second option.

That vessel was about to become a simple memory of songs at the afternoon and everyone noticed this, arising the real atmosphere of panic that cracked across the deck with frightened numbles. 

Ten was already soaked and his hair looked blacker than the average, but the turmoil became more obvious when a chunk of sea water coldly brushed on them when a wave skipped over the deck.

At that point of ocean anger, Doyoung was flying down the upper deck, his friendly appearance vanished just to fuel him with an angry determination, and like that, he was getting through the people, almost lifting up one of the few scattered ladies on the tripulation, that one that was always reading and wearing her round specs, and that Ten had no notions of her name, to carry her without tangling her heels on the wet ends of her elegant-per-definition long dress. 

— Forget about the cabins!! Everyone come up to the deck!! 

The wood cracked harder and the center mast shivered, suddenly looking like the most fragile stem of a flower pulled by the wind. The poodles disappeared as water had started rolling down the deck towards the stern.

It was titling. 

In a trice, Jaehyun appeared as he came up from the stairs to Doyoung’s rushed voice, struggling with his breath, a scared look on his face and the bottom half of his pants wet, unlike the rest of him.

Doyoung opened his eyes really big and run to him.

— Jaehyun!

— It’s flooding— he murmured.

Ten felt his soul dropping to his feet when he heard so, mortified to the core, but not more than Jaehyun himself, who seemed to be even paler than his usual fair complexion from the west, like if he was sick. 

— Jaehyun, what are you talking about? This vessel has a cooper skeleton. Jaehyun, answer me! What’s wrong with you!?

— I can’t find Johnny— he sounded defeated, voice about to break into a cry of fear. Doyoung seemed to pale down too, but it was not the time for that— I think we have crashed against something, he went to check and I just lost him, I… 

— This man, i swear he drives me up the wall… okay Jaehyun, recompose yourself!— Doyoung handed the ma’am he was hugging to Jaehyun, who held her like a fragile piece of crystal, like if he didn’t know what to do with her. Then the captain rolled up his sleeves and helped the few passengers struggling up the stairs to make his way down, not before taking a look at the official pulling from the ropes and yelling— Jeno, take the wheel! Sailors pull down the sails! And passengers, hold on tight and get ready to leave to the boats if needed!! 

— Where are you going!?— questioned Jeno, not very satisfied, as he approached. 

— To block that leak.

— Captain, don’t say stupidities, what are you going to do!? This is not a do-it-yourself moment to start nailing tables on a crack!

— This is my fucking vessel! And you can bet your darn ass that I’m not going to lose it!! Now take the wheel and maintain this ship upright straight!

—Doyoung, come on!— the officer said, kicking the honorifics out, yelling due to the anger, the panic and the loud sound of people joining the storm cracking. He had held Doyoung by his arm and was pulling from him like a thin string that still bounded him to logic— I can go and try fighting with the wheel against the wind but that is not going to change the fact that this ship is sinking, don’t be naive! 

Through the pouring water, Doyoung looked at the officer in the eyes, projecting the memories of how Jeno stood with him through the good and the bad, always. The young corsair was like the brother he never had, and his words broke his heart, he could almost see him tearing up, begging him to not go to the sea bottom just out of mindless bravery, as he knew whatever he could say, Jeno would accomplish it and would listen to the captain’s voice. 

He inhaled sharply. 

After all, the _Storm’s Lily_ was his favorite flower but Jeno was a friend of heart. 

— Let’s get to the lifeboats, I’ll row— he took Jisoo’s hand again in order to accompany her on the way, but when he tugged, she got trapped between his hold and Jaehyun’s. The corsair looked back at him, witnessing that he was standing still and fighting against his strength to move away from the sairs, with an obvious discomfort on his features— Move! 

— What about Johnny? We can’t leave without him.

— Jaehyun, come on!

— We can’t give up on him! 

—You can’t look for him if you are dead!— shorted out Lucas exasperate. This trip was being a complete nightmare— So move!

The look he got back was not anger or reproach, just tired melancholy from a man that started walking with them for a group cause.

The bard’s eyes were getting red from the struggle of holding tears back and Ten, who was also there holding the edge of his other sleeve and pushing him towards the railings, felt the culpability washing over him like if he did something bad to cause all of that.

He had the bitter feeling of the fight with Taeyong and the remorse lasting at the back of his tongue to enhance the mood, wanting to tell the bard a million things to relieve his grief and make him know he related but, but not finding anything in storage.

Not even for himself.

— I can’t believe you all are doing this, he would never! Johnny would never leave any of you! 

Doyoung tugged harder from all of them, forming an improvised line of survival for the noble passengers, getting them moving under the pouring rain and guiding them to the lifesaving spot. 

The _Storm’s Lily_ fronted another violent wave, it's wooden body raised up and then fell like a free fall attraction that makes you meet the tingles of adrenaline on your stomach, the water splashing on their faces making it hard to advance without covering their eyes from the burning impact of salt.

Jaehyun was feeling so emotionally weak that he couldn’t help the tremble of his legs when the deck rumbled under their feet for the crashing motion of the framework. He felt his knees failing. Doyoung moved back for a split second to help him getting up, meeting the vision of the jewels merchant appearing in front of him, coming up from the stairs.

And it was really consolatory, to say the truth. 

Johnny was out of his breath, soaked up to the point the layers of his clothes were stuck to his body uncomfortably, with the cold getting to his bones.

Jaehyun stumbled, getting on his feet to double check if that was really Johnny coming through the gray rain that made it hard to see further than five meters away, but the moment their eyes met and he saw that honey color, he was certain that it couldn’t be any other. 

The three of them, from Jaehyun to the captain, were about to go to him to offer their help, fearing that it was an injury the reason for him to be delaying so much, but he just ran to their side by himself and then, in front of two very perplex Lucas and Ten, he caught Jaehyun’s face between his hands and crushed their lips together, salty and sweet from the mix of sea water and rain. 

And regardless that not being, even remotely, their first kiss, Jaehyun could swear that it felt like it was. Maybe this time it had to be like an epiphany for them, to open the door of being sensible and knowing how cold it would feel if they let go. 

— What are you doing?— managed to ask Jaehyun.

— I feel like we keep hiding this from each other and it’s senseless. The more I wait to be honest with you the more frightened I get, and now I'm thinking this secret of mine is weighing the ship down, I want to get rid of it… Jaehyun, i lov-

—Me too! I’m sorry, I-. 

— Do you guys think this is the time to hold a noble-worthy love confession!?— rushed the captain, coming through again— Keep moving! 

— Doyoung!— shouted Jisoo, clenching her fingers on the lapel of his uniform and making him look behind them where her short round nail was pointing.

The crack had grown longer and it reached the central mast that was now shaking and about to fall down once the tension of the last remaining ropes of the sail gave in

— Gods above us… 

The group started running up the deck, fighting against the tilt of the floor that was getting more and more pronounced as the water filled the stern’s chambers. They were not the only ones, of course, the official had rushed the passenger to board the lifeboats hanging at the middle of the vessel too, and they were running towards it, one of them already full of people. 

Doyoung lead the way, running faster than themm others, taking over his role of responsibility on hung entire tripulation. He drew the sword that hanging from his belt, and although it wasn’t made for that purpose, he thrusted it across the air and cut the ropes that the passenger of the first boat were trying to undo, making the lifeboat to fall on the water with force and through the screams of its passengers, but with effectivity.

Then the captain started pulling the second one down, working on the ropes as fast as he could, but finding them very slippery from rain.

— First the prince and his next of kin, and the ma’ams!— he said, stretching out a hand for the royal prince.

But then, the _Storm’s Lily_ cracked, and this time the sound was deafening.

The weight of the prow was too heavy for the structure to resist that unnatural tilting position. The mast impacted on the ocean’s surface and dipped in.

Ten felt the floor giving in under his feet and his chest bumped on the wooden floor when he fell facedown on the deck, a sharp exhale going out of him accidentally and emptying his lungs. The acute angle that the deck had already adopted dragged him back, slipping over the wet floor together with Jisoo and some other people on board.

He hung in the air, holding to the edge of the broken deck with all the strength he had, even though the hit left him half numb and the splinters started poking under his nails.

It was just a moment. 

He saw Lucas runnin to him with panic on his eyes and slide across the deck to hold his wrist and pull him up, like he always did.

— No, no, no…! 

The difference was that on that occasion, he didn’t come up in time.

The waters of the Middle Sea had opened their arms to catch Ten from his fall, welcoming him into their cold embrace with a shocking splash. 

Asking an Ignis child to swim was like asking a dog to stand on two legs and play _The Merry Widow waltz_ on a violin. He was stubborn enough to try and fight the waves but being thought-headed was just half of the success you can encounter in a daily life situation.

Soon enough he was choking and losing his energy to keep his head out the dark ocean in the middle of nowhere. 

It was a slow descent and, at the same time, too fast to go against it. The force that he knew millers used to move the rocks and make flour at the coast villages, stronger than any man’s strength.

He told himself to ignore the cold water, hold his breath and kick his legs to merge to the surface again but it was easier said than done, and the sea on a storm was merciless with a small body like his, not bigger than a pearl thrown in a corn field. 

In his life, if he had to be betrayed, he didn’t think it would have been by books, his confiable friends that told him so many stories of love and adventure, extraordinary people with amazing powers and overwhelming skills. He read a lot of them and every one of them that spoke about drowning explained it like a slow but calm death. 

Ten should have known to tell apart exaggerated romanticism and reality a little before the cold became intolerable. A million small knives that cut his skin and made him unable to think of anything else but the intense pain and anxiety.

Down there it feels like you are floating in a vast empty place, with no time or space to tell you how much you descended towards the bottom of the ocean or how much time has passed since you last inhaled any air.

For his own consideration, Ten had already sunk deeper than a chest full of golden coins.

His lungs were burning and about to unconsciously have a big breath of salty water but he didn’t notice any of his body’s reactions at that point, his conscience was vanishing from him. 

He was only a matter of seconds from letting his soul slip away his body but then his fingers felt something lacing around them. First very dimly and softly. Or wait, maybe it was just that his fingers were numb to feel the rough tug. Next, the bubbles popped against the skin of his face.

He didn't remember how to breathe. 

He didn’t remember he had to do so, when the senses returned to him slowly with just a dim shine, firsts, that gradually started lighting up. 

His conscience was coming back, spreading inside his brain with a paused feeling than he would have wanted to take off.

He felt just a small hold of his own body, a hard and sharp texture holding his back where he should have been laying for a space of time he ignored and didn’t care about. It was, definitely, the most uncomfortable bed to ever lay on, even for the consideration of someone who wasn't born in the palace’s quarters.

His ears buzzed with a very far and quiet sound but he couldn’t place it anywhere, his perception was still too blurry to point locations.

His mind was full with the thinking about Hendery and also about Xiaojun, splashing in their garden’s stream, thinking that water was fun, and pushing little origami sails to make them race playfully. 

The feeling of discomfort was soon replaced with a burning, itching urgency all over his chest, but he felt frozen and couldn’t move to brush it off or stop it.

Sound became louder and imperious on his eardrums until he could distinguish every separated word that was being thrown at him.

— Breath, for your life, breath!

As a child, he always hated to be sick, because the feeling of throwing up was messed up and disgusting to his taste, but he had to admit that nothing made his anxiety calm down in that moment more than the sensation of expelling all the water from his body as soon as he inhaled the first bit of oxygen.

Lungs were not made to hold water, less to hold sea water, which was roughening his throat as he coughed all of its salty composition out.

As he rolled over to his side a little and tried to hold himself on his arms while he got rid of all that liquid, he felt a hand lay on his back to help him holding up, binding him to the earth again and acting as a reminder that he was about to die a few moments earlier.

— Slower, or you will keep choking. Careful.

He tried it, and it was painful.

Slow breathing when his body was craving for all the air he lacked underwater, taking it slow, was a torture. He counted mentally the seconds between one intake and the other, his body relaxing gradually while he let himself plop on the stones of the shore, exhausted, finding them like a much more comfortable bed than before. 

Priorities.

— Taeyong?— he mumbled carelessly through his lips that had turned to a purplish color, with a string of voice that was only enough to ask that.

—You got it— the other answered, pushing one of the laces that hung from his headwear and was sticking to his damp.

— Seems like I can do that right, at least.

The mercer crooked his lips up on a gesture close to a smile.

He was sitting on the rocks by his side, leaning almost imperceptibly to look at him, when Ten held his arm and pulled him down to lay the mercer with him.

The mercer seemed sore and tired enough to forget to try to push the prince away when he practically hugged him and murmured his last words that night.

— Hold me. I’m terribly cold.

Of course he was cold, a boy from the arid desert fell into a sea of stormy waters and the rain was still pouring from the sky while the distant shape of the _Storm’s Lily_ was swallowed by the ocean’s desire.

That’s the reason the mercer gave himself to surround Ten with his arms too and search something on him that could warm him up. 

— Stupid prince, you are gonna kill us both.


	8. Guilty Pleasures

Usually, a person doesn’t stop to contemplate how thin the line that separates falling asleep from losing your conscience is, but the prince Ten of Ignis came to that realization when he woke up on the shore with a pain going through his head and the doubt about the nature of his coming back to vigily. 

It still was a bed of stones all around him but the sun was now up, and its light was hitting with an already midday clarity.

He was tired and his first movements limited to adjust his eyes to the brightness and a sleepy superficial exploration, using a simple look around to see his surroundings. He found the mercer laying on his own back half a meter away from him, his eyes completely closed and his chest going up and down calm, proving that it could seem like nothing ever happened to a person while the person in question sleeps. 

Ten could assume that he was unscathed beyond the ache of his muscles because, at first sight, there wasn’t any injury on him, so he gave himself a few minutes of secret intimacy to get lost on Taeyong's face now that he had the chance to do it directly, unready to be aware of how they were a mess of intertwined limbs and rattle teeth just a few hours before.

Perhaps it was due to the way he was so dizzy, heavy and sleepy, but the prince thought that it was like if he had appeared on the shore by the act of sorcery and he wasn’t on a shipwreck. His hair was disheveled and his lips a bit dry and chapped, but still Taeyong looked like a daydream, with a clear shiny skin, a perfectly drawn jawline, firm eyebrows and plump lips of cherry color. 

_“He hates you, stupid”_ his brain yelled to him with a rapid arrow that casually sounded like Lucas’ voice and reminded him the weight of everything, suddenly dropping atop him as if it was a breathtaking bundle. 

He almost jumped on his place, with a gasp, like waking up from a terrible nightmare, immediately seeing the far spot that probably was the last remaining pieces of the sail where they were traveling, deep in the sea beyond him, saying their last goodbye to the world above water.

He, once again, became numb reminding himself how one should breathe correctly.

Around him it was just a bunch of rocks with scattered thistles and brambles, edging the sea with the lazy but still angry waves. The green of the trees behind the prince added a note of color to the gray bed of stones but it was far, with the whisper of wind going through them, clear and loud. It was barely something more than him and Taeyong thrown on the cold shore, only accompanied by some abandoned pieces of wood with lilies painted on them. 

His head spun a little bit, suddenly, overwhelmed by the imminent idea of how many people were on board and how lonely they ended up, meaning that either they were lost, that they foundered in other direction or that they made their way down the sea level.

None of the options were good, and he couldn't help but chung in some air with anxiety, making himself choke and cough until his eyes teared up. 

Lucas was on that sail. His best and probably only friend, if he could call him so, thinking about Taeyong’s remarks previous to the storm.

His heart ached too bad with the thought of losing him, no matter how bad he wanted to go out from the palace, live an adventure and breath the air of different lands, Ten, suddenly, had the sensation that the price was too high to be paid, even for the royal crown prince whose heartbeats and breath had sped up drastically. It’s true, they argued but he wouldn’t want Lucas to be dead over anything.

— Lucas… oh no… Lucas...

— What’s wrong?— he heard, without warning, the words from Taeyong, saying them with a croaky voice.

He needed several seconds to process that he had stood up and was now at the edge of the shore, his slippers wet.

The prince turned his face to look at Taeyong, whose black hair was still humid and floppy, unlike Ten’s own still full of clips that stuck to his hair, even if they were looking oblique after the whole sinking. But, after all, he wasn’t thinking about his gorgeous appearance anymore, but in the weight he felt in his heart when he spoke to him.

He didn't know why, exactly, but he felt that all that happened the night before was nothing but his fault only, and that the mercer knew about it too. 

When he corresponded his glance, Taeyong pressed his lips on a thin line. He raised a hand between them, and for a second Ten thought he would let it rest on his shoulder, and that everything would get better instantly; but he could just watch how the eldest ended up brushing his bangs back and out of his eyes.

—We are screwed— he said resuming his attitude towards practically everything inside his brain at that exact moment. Taeyong stood behind him to watch the same spot, barely seen on the ocean, with concern— We are really screwed and lost.

— I’m aware that we are lost, but let’s keep our feet on land, prince, you look like you are going to jump in, and I don't know if I could carry you to the shore again.

— Did you take me out?— asked Ten scared of the answer he was going to get.

There was a silence, soaked in the regret of noticing that they were again under that lukewarm atmosphere.

The mercer nodded slowly, behind him.

He felt his heart’s pace slowing down dangerously, replaying in his mind one of the only moments he remembered from the previous night, when Lucas pulled them away and he lost Taeyong in the crowd.

He wondered why it came to hit him that hard, abruptly, but the only answer to it was that, if he could have changed anything, it would be to let Taeyong alone to his own luck.

He had been lost in space and that attitude piled together with his other regrets, but it had no help already, they were on the starting line again because of him.

It was already too much for him to handle at the same time

— Why?

Taeyong held his glance without batting an eye, while he, a prince from Ignis Grand Palace, could not drive himself to stare at him so deeply without falling in fear of the strange sensation held inside his chest, so he ended up turning his face away. 

The mercer sighed, once more, almost getting the sound to be a tag from him. 

— By the time that deck cracked I was already becoming religious… I couldn't let you die.

— Thank you— murmured Ten after exhaling heavily, getting a slight tilt of Taeyong’s head in response.

Ten was an expert in tip-toeing over topics, but doing it for so long is really tiring and makes your feet sore, so he just wanted to jump on it and run.

He looked around watching the forest starting on the far landscape. At least there were threes and that meant they were close to the west, probably between Caleo and Per Saxa, counting with the days they had been sailing at full speed.

Then, he looked at Taeyong again, coiling and wrapping his wet tunic around him, like trying to get the last traces of warm from it.

— We have to finish the trip and arrive to Per Saxa, we can’t stay here.

— We “have” to? With all my respects, prince, but we don’t even know where we are.

— What do you suggest, then?— he said torn between feeling annoyed and literally asking him what was his idea, in case it could be better than his, which won’t be hard— We can’t figure out where the others have gone, we don’t know if they are alive at all. We don’t have food or water, we are drenched and freezing. By all means we can’t sit on this rock and wait because we’ll be dead in a few days from either thirst, starving or hypothermia and maybe, and I don't want to call upon fate, there’s no one left to inform of this shipwreck but you and I. 

Taeyong looked intensely at him from a split second, he chuckled with a nod and looked up. After swimming them both to the shore it would be stupid to die of cold and it was true that the prince’s lips had became more of a purplish color than the fancy royal red that he always flashed and made Taeyong so tense.

— The thing is that you have a point. 

— Thank you— said Ten with a soft sigh. He wanted to say more about his concerns but it was not the time, due to the uncomfortable cold place they were in— So among the two of us, I have to guess you are the best one with directions. Choose East or West. 

— Well… If the destiny is Per Saxa, then West, for sure. The hard thing is to tell where the West is— he pointed out. Without neither Jeno and Doyoung’s knowledge or an astrolabium or a compass, it was hard to tell— If the wind is still blowing in the same direction that these days before, it’s following that way. 

— Then let’s go.

Taeyong stood on the shore watching the prince gathering the heavy material of his tunic, weighting the double because of the water, and trying to walk on the rocks while dragging it across them like a train. The cape was long gone, somewhere in the sea, but he gave up fast and took the robe off too, folding it on his arms and proceeding to move more comfortably despite the cold.

It was even a tender scene to witness, for Taeyong. Ten looked like a fawn that never had to walk across a hostile barren like that, but it just carried a strange meaning, not subject to a lot of people.

It was complex.

Taeyong ceded, and walked behind him towards the line of trees that grew up to the sky as they got close to the forest. There was a subtle mist coming out from its interior due to the previous night’s rain that enhanced the smells of leaves and wood, like if they had a soul for themselves.

Forests are like homes, full of nature and forgotten stories, but if Taeyong had something clear about that sudden and necessary walk trip with the prince is that that home was not theirs. 

He grabbed the back of the prince’s tunic and pushed him back, slowing his pace. 

The prince looked at him questioning.

— Listen, little prince, you need to stop. Like right now. Your spirit its senselessly uprising, what are you trying to demostraste? Why are you in such a rush?

— I have to close a diplomatic mission with the church to bring Per Saxa's abbot to Ignis for a period of time and I have to fulfill it.

He couldn’t believe his own words when he said them out loud but he was sure that he meant what he said. Years had already passed without a single trace of divine faith inside him. The idea of believing in Gods managing their destiny felt odd to him and, as no one really pushed him to adopt that concept, he never did. But at the end of the day, no matter if he sailed, if he sunk or if he soared, he still hosted the title of prince. It was his responsibility to finish what he started and prove that he was capable and had the skills he needed to have as the monarch of a country.   
— Oh, come on! Because of that?— he said.

He supposed what the mercer was thinking. He was about to hit him with a complaint and call his reason a stupidity, so the prince looked at him completely serious and with a fragility that tangled with his glance.

— Because that's what Lucas would tell me to do. Because he loves Ignis more than anything. It's my job as prince to end this, isn't it? I have a compromise with him and with my people— he turned around and kept walking. He was sick of people pitying him and his royal title, he had the guts to solve his problems by himself, and he won't sit and whine until an expedition could be sent to him— I'm not going to be an idiot who gives up and dies on the shores without a try.

—Okay, my royal prince. If you say you can do it, I'm going to believe you. After all, I thought you won't thread a needle and I ended up teaching you how to sew— he said with a big sigh but sounding more kind this time, still pushing back from his clothes— But don't enter the forest, we have to borde it. If we see the shore line and the forest’s beginning, we won't lose the way. If we get in between the trees it'll be easier to lose the trace of our way. Think a little, what do you know about forests? 

Ten flinched momentaneously after shrugging his shoulders.

It felt hard to confess it to someone who wasn’t Lucas, but the words were burning his tongue and he had to spit them. 

— I know nothing about forests, nothing more that I have read in a book. I have never seen a forest. 

He slowly turner back to Taeyong, whose hand remained clenched on his undershirt, with embarrassment.

That was it, the prince never saw a forest, or the sea. He barely ever went out beyond his garden walls and never ever beyond the Central Ignis city’s walls. It was pathetic even to his own ears so he didn't want to think about the mercer’s opinion, falling in loathing for someone so useless. 

Taeyong's hand dropped from his clothes slowly to his wrist and pulled faintly before the prince could recreate inside his fear.

— Well, fine. But prince, if I may be so bold, and as a citizen of Ventum Anguis I can affirm it's not a good idea— Ten followed his steps rapidly and started moving, this time behind him, as the mercer casually walked to the west surrounding the big and green trees— Just follow my way for a change.

— I guess the wind is in the right direction then— Taeyong scoffed, sarcastically but holding a certain kindness underneath.

— I know what you are thinking, my prince. I'm not a windbreaker. I’m not the wind and I can't read it. I’m just a mercer, sorry if that’s a letdown. 

Ten almost stopped but he refrained and kept walking behind him in order to not show how weak that made him.

Taeyong was a fast learner when it came to adivinate the tastes of noble people, with a full use of it to sell them what they wanted. Between all those things, he had caught thr clue of how to see the prince's intereses.

Ten was legitly left without words and it seemed like doing that was also a skill that Taeyong had, but he wouldn’t let him know.

The day, from that moment, stretched out long and rather silent, but it was caused by the way in which all the view seemed to repeat centimeter by centimeter, every mile walked similar to the previous with the naked sea and the huge rocks, sister to the one that must have made them sink, at one side. At the other rows of oaks and holm oaks, positioned like a martial line of soldiers in perfect formation. 

The prince had many things to think about, as for example how would he manage to complete the mission without his papers and reciting all the accords by memory. The lack of Lucas ached in his heart, taking all his hopes and rising them for him to not be in the worst place he could be at. The silence of the mercer moving forward an uncertain west, where they should arrive. And over every little thing mentioned in the list, an alarming feeling that threatened him to reach a point where he could not ignore it anymore, as how he had been doing. 

It was alarming, but it was there.

The feeling that no matter what had happened, he enjoyed the company of a man like Taeyong, almost as if the mercer was a glass of salty water.

He knew what people said about salty water before, and more at that time, when he had the chance of involuntarily drinking about five liters of it.

The more you drink from it, the farthest to stop being thirsty you are. 

But they didn't belong, that was a given. As soon as they reached the city, Ten would clear his mission and Taeyong would find whatever he wanted to do there, definitely far from him. The trip would be over forever, pricking a thorn in the heart of Ten if he let himself keep divagating about what he had started divagating without even noticing.

He tried to withhold such thoughts.

Even when the night fell like an obscure and heavy veil of velvet, this time with a sky open enough to let them see the stars staining the heaven’s vault.

0Still too far from the city, there was nothing like kerosene lanterns or lamps to drown their celestial light, so the sky was peppered with all those refulgent kisses. The only thing that was left to illuminate the path was the silvery light of the moon, which made Taeyong suggest that maybe they should stop for a while, get some rest and keep going when the light returned, just because walking by the sea, over a bunch of stones and with no light to see, didn’t sound like an exciting plan. 

Recoiled on the ground, wrapped on the finally dry tunic, Ten was glad that the weather was feelin more gentle. Actually, Per Saxa had a nice weather, their temperatures were lukewarm and nice, usually, so he was glad to feel the light warm of the night, meaning that they would be getting closer to their destination and not just wandering around like a couple of idiots. 

Suddenly Ten noticed that he was on the open, that his adventure arrived and he was living it in that exact moment, like in a book of the library that he caught with the help of Hendery in a specially hot evening that obligated them to stay in the coldest room of the palace, reading and fanning themselves to fight the sweat.

That was it. That was life outside four walls. It was scary, but he was inconveniently thrilled. 

— You know? It's strange you thought I could be one of those windbreakers from fairytales— started Taeyong.

Ten didn’t expect him to speak, but the tone in which he did warmed the rest of his body without the need of shorting the meters that were separating them on the floor.

He could almost smell the ginger tea of the Storm’s Lily’s coffee room, ascending to him as they were sitting together on the table.

— Why? I can fantasise with reality, can't I?

—But If i was a windbreaker, don’t you think I would have saved us both? 

He said these words, oblivious of his phrasing due to the doze. He was tired of walking all day. But then the prince spoke and his eyes opened like the blinds in the morning. 

— _Us both_? 

— You, me... Lucas, Johnny, Taeil, Jaehyun… all of us, prince.

— Of course, all of us— he repeated, engravelimg it in his brain with a hot iron. Trying, at least.— You know what? The truth is that even if you can’t do magic with the wind, I like a mercer.

— Uh?

— It's impressive that you can do all of that art with a simple needle. You are persevering. Obstinate, but fun. 

— Kind?

Ten giggled.

He had told him before that he knew no kindness towards people but Ten knew it was a lie. That man had pulled him out of the water, he swam through a storm and took him to the shore and waited for him to come back to his senses. He had reminded him to breath. He had saved his life. And that hurt him even more than his indifference, because knowing he held all that benevolence even for a prince, the personality that came attached to all the things Taeyong apparently hated, kicked out of the way all the possible excuses he could use to hate him back. 

Not a single one was there, only a mercer falling asleep on the shore. 

— Maybe too kind. 

Taeyong smiled to the moon above him, unaware of how a simple gesture like that could have had a much bigger impact if he had directed it to the side, where the prince was staying now. But he didn’t, and like so, they both fell asleep scared of tasting the fruit of knowledge.

— I don’t think “too kind” fits me well. Actually, if I have to be sincere, there’s a good percentage of the time expended on the vessel that I was thinking about how plausible could it be that Jungwoo’s story ended with a resentful mercer setting fire to his creation.

— An incendium? That would be the end of this story? Set fire to the Silver Palace?

— I’m the writer, I can do whatever with the finale episode— he said with a tiny sparkle on his voice, then he made a pause before continuing— But honestly, prince, with all the unexpected turns of my inspiration, lately, I don't even know how this is going to end.

— I guess all we can do— mumbled Ten, tiltimg his head to look at Taeyong— Is persever. 


	9. Open Secret

The day seemed stupidly nice. 

The smell of eucalyptus deep on the forest had started mixing with a soft flowery scent, as well as fruity tones, blooming from the warmth of the west coasts that made their forest to be populated with fruit threes. It was still so dim, and the rolling stones were the only piece of ground that could be seen, sculpted by years of rainpur and waves crashing on the shore, but the pleasing weather appeared like a well needed sign of the direction to be the right one. 

For prince Ten, the landscape was an overwhelming portrayal of the paintings on his history and ethnology books, exotic to his eyes that had never seen such a blooming world of inmensity.

It still looked lilac all across the sky when Taeyong had touched his shoulder slowly at early morning, in order to take Ten off his doze, shaking him awake. 

He opened his eyes to his kind expression, telling him to get up, and he came quickly to his senses again, reminding him with gravity that they didn’t have time to waste if they wanted to make it out alive. The earlier they started moving the earlier they’d arrive to Per Saxa. 

With all, the surroundings were breathtaking and the wind have started caressing his princely skin as gently as a loving mother, the sky blue without a trace of corruption like the layer of smells and smoke raising upon the cities. 

He felt like there was nothing that could darken the sky at the time, that the walk to the Land of Gardens would be shorter if Taeyong walked with him.

It was mid day when Ten stopped for a moment and crouched down towards his feet. The mercer stopped by his side curiously taking a look over him. 

—What are you doing, prince?— he said amused, guessing the answer as he saw him fighting with the tulle stripes tying his slippers. 

Since he left the vessel, the walking over firm land had made Taeyong’s stomach to settle down, and he was no longer as dizzy as before. It was true that some feeling of sickness remained deep down in his stomach, but he had been more talkative through the way, commenting here and there his speculations about directions and location, as well as some other things that popped up on the conversation.

Ten, naturally, liked that. Taeyong was good for conversation and even though he seemed to be unexpectedly shy at times, he wsd high-tension and tqlkative in the most part. 

—Taking off my shoes— he replied with a soft giggle of embarrassment.

—With what purpose? Are your spectacular shoes uncomfortable? 

The youngest of the pair, with no apparent time to answer, jumped up again and started walking towards the moss-covered proximities of the forest, feeling the fresh texture of the green grass on his feet.

He skipped, hopped and then ran ahead, since his heart felt like doing so with a perturbing strength. He started giggling shyly at first but then he broke into a funny laugh, holding up the hem of his robe with the free hand that wasn’t carrying his shoes, to spin and twirl around happily under the eyes of Taeyong that reflected the light dancing on his irises with a charming wavering.

It took Ten some minutes but then he noticed the manner in which he was looking at him, caught short by that sudden boost of untamed and wild happiness.

He suddenly stopped and tried to calm his laugh, a hand to his strong beating chest.

— Sorry… I wanted to try it— he excused himself, waiting to recompose as if nothing happened just in front of Taeyong’s eyes, but the man chuckled, ringing a bell inside his heart— Don’t judge me, I know you are jud-

— Run.

— What? 

—Come one— he said kicking his much more humble shoes out, and giving a couple of steps towards him— Let’s have a race, majesty.

— Why would I have a race against you, sir?

— I entertained you when you were bored, you owe me some fun, this land is pretty much the same thing mile after mile. 

— You can’t order me around, you know that?— he said, clearly joking with a good smirk on his face, but Taeyong had started running towards him and the trigger clicked inside the prince too, turning around to run barefoot on the grass, yelling with the emotion’s impulse filling his veins. 

His cheeks started to hurt from laughing and screaming, flushing red due to the effort of trying to outrun Taeyong.

For being a mercer, he was quite fast and athletic but Ten was unyielding and wouldn't give up easily.

He had the encouragement in his brain.

“ _Run for all the times someone said you couldn't. Run for Xiaojun's tongue sticking out for you when he mocked you because you were slower than him_ ”.

And he ran, faster and faster. 

He was already panting when Taeyong passed by his side, laughing quite loud at the prince’s stunned and even annoyef expression and with his black and blue hair catching on the air, giving him a magical halo, framing his beautifully defined countenance. 

Ten stopped, exhausted, watching how Taeyong raised his arms with victory, howlimg like a child and getting his laugh to sound squeaky.

— There you go, majesty, surrender!— he said all fun, celebrating, but suddenly his eyes opened wide and he seemed to become mute for a split second— I mean-

Ten guessed what was the thought that provoked his retreat, but he looked up to him with a funny smirk and life returned to Taeyong’s features just as fast, warming them up with a smile. 

— Don't laugh, lord Taeyong— he said laughing too, and also panting at the same time, his palms resting on his knees tired— I can get you in cuffs when we arrive to the city.

— I would love to see you do that.

— Not more than me.

— You won’t catch me, anyway.

The faked outrage on his face was enough to ignite more laugh on the mercer, scaping again as the prince got to him with a competitive way of fronting the joke, but he stopped too soon.

The mercer’s legs trembled for a moment, getting week whilst the view distorted on his eyes making him stumble. Quickly, the prince moved to him in order to sustain him, holding his wrist in an impulse to keep him steady while the mercer used his free hand to rub his temple and exhale heavily.

—Taeyong? Are you alright? 

—Uh? Yeah? I just got dizzy for a moment— he said resting importance to it and waving his hand in dismission, but the prince deeply frowned .

—When was the last time you ate? 

—Uh… well… 

— Seriously? How can you not remember your last meal?— he said worried— You need food, you are weak.

— Sorry for breaking it to you, but we don't have any. We are lost, as you said.

— But the forest has

— You want to play the farmer's life now?

— You need to eat— he argued, pushing Taeyong by his wrist towards the forest. 

— Majesty…

— We will get out as soon as we get you something to eat. I can manage, I promise. 

They stopped to fit their shoes again on his feet.

Taeyong had to admit that he was hungry now that the prince mentioned it, but he was not so sure of his plan working, whatever that was.

Nonetheless, he let Ten drag him, following his lead between trees. 

Stepping into the forest it didn’t seem like his royal presence was intimidated at all, more like fascinated with the vault of leaves rising above his head. The royal pendants resounded when he threw his head back to observe the view and hear the rush of squirrels, invisible to his eyes.

He was embellished, and even more as he was unaware of how his lips parted beautifully with a expression of pure fascination.

But Taeyong, by contrast, did notice. He was both disconcerted and touched. Watching Ten unravel through the days was like seeing a child left to see a park for the first time.

Ignis was almost a dessert without the almost, and the closets to a forest he ever could have been to was the stream and the jungle that, of course, was not a place to carry a royal prince to. 

Not that he would have been allowed, even asking to go. 

They walked for a few minutes, as the eldest get distant from the consideration of time, thinking what could be people's reason to always choose to talk about the prince’s long lashes, why about the enviable gentleness of his movements when serving tea on the balcony when New Year’s events took place with the royal family. Why all of that and not the overwhelming curiosity that clearly radiated from him and could make a crowd swim on it with its expansive wave? His endless energy and wit were a secret for the whole population living in Ignis and, for real, at any place. No one seemed to know about it, and so happened with a mere and simple couturier walking by his side, feeling the unknown vertigo of having to witness such character out of a sudden, without being warned.

But he was too troubled with his weakening state, low on vitamins and starting to feel the low growl of his stomach, to be divagating on a blessing. 

—Look, look— said Ten tapping on Taeyong’s shoulder with emotion, pointing at a fruit tree that appeared between all the wild big trees of the forest. Taeyong looked at him, taken with the guards down due to the unbelievable fact that the hand that he rose between them was still wrapped in shiny bracelets and rings after a disaster— I don’t know what fruit that is. Is that edible? It looks edible, at least.

— Those are apricots, and they are totally edible— he said, and watched Ten running to it decided— What are you- majesty! 

His eyes more than widened watching Ten placing a feet on the tree and taking impulse to jump and grab the lowest branch, make his way up with the strenght of his body alone to the top branches with hanging fruits, climbing the tree like a monkey in very fancy robes.

— Don’t worry, it’s a low tree!

The prince didn’t seem to be lying, as he climbed very fast and started taking fruits from it while calmly strandling on one of the branches and resting on it, but it didn’t make Taeyong less surprised that he had that ability… given the circumstances.

However, the prince was sitting on a branch storing the apricots in a fold of his long robe without a tremble.

When he dropped the fifth fruit, he thought they were enough if he wanted to get down without falling, wrapping them with the fabric and sliding down the trunk carefully.

When he jumped off, the tud was almost feline and agile but he still stumbled back, subtly, going to bump a little against Taeyong's chest, waiting under.

He reacted quickly by instinct and surrounded his waist strongly with his arms, stopping him on his way down. 

Ten took a deep breath in, recovering from the startle, but the only thing filling his insides was the adrenaline of the fall, together with the way he was resting against Taeyong’s chest, feeling the harsh beating of his heart inside his chest trespassing onto his spine like an extension of him.

It felt so warm, suddenly, that his nerves shot up at crazy speed. 

They totally froze in the middle of the forest like an ebony statue of Ignis palace, laced perfectly, triggering the dense memory of Taeyong hugging him under the rain the night of the sinking, when he was so cold he could barely feel the tips of his own fingers and beg him to stay.

He couldn't recall when was the last time someone touched him in that way, only a sudden rush of feeling going over him and deactivating his mind that only repeated the law of his land on and on. 

He couldn’t. Damn, why he couldn’t? It didn't make sense anyways. 

—Taeyong…—breathed out the prince, barely managing to force more than a strangled whisper out of himself.

Taeyong let go of him even quicker than when he had hold him, stepping back eagerly. 

He took the apricot from his hand, biting it before collecting more chances of fainting flat on the floor because of his lack of vitamins and leaving Ten trying not to let his jaw drop.

— Thank you, majesty… I was starving.

Is not like the page wss easy to turn, but after that brief episode that let Ten's mind out of the game, they decided to resume their way, going out to the shore again to find their traced path. 

Taeyong happened to be more hungry than he could have guessed at first, and walked in silence for several minutes, only making a spontaneous chewy music born from the rapid way he had to devour three apricots in one seat.

He gave the other two to the prince, given the obvious roaring of his stomach when he witnessed how fleshy and ripen the fruits looked.

Ten started eating the first one in a manery way, dictated by the habit of eating at the palace with teachers that told him how it was correct to chew, but that was gone when he arrived to the second one, eating avidly and making a tiny thread of orangey colored juice to drip from the corner of his lips. 

— You liked them, uh?

Ten didn't really like fruits, but he was quite hungry to turn them down or pay them no heed, so he nodded, blushing a little and trying to erase the sticky line of juice on his chin wiping it with his tongue. 

— Not too bad.

Gods know that he had the instinct of fixing eyes on his companion's lips, sucking on obe of those fleshy fruit, as well.

He had to look away, not wanting to get awkwardly red at how perfect Taeyong lips were doing this or that concrete thing on a juicy fruit.

— I have to admit you surprised me. How in the world have you learned how to climb? 

— Let's say that my brother and I were bored at a party someday in the gardens. We were children and didn't care much about the guests talking politics with the king, I mean, we were only children younger than ten or so years old, so we invented a new challenge trying to climb a weeping willow.

— Which brother? You have two.

— Xiaojun.

—Prince Xiaojun, uh? I saw him at Ignis’ Grand Market around the season when that portrait of him became so famous. The painter must have been paid a star after that, it was so pretty... He is a very handsome model, to start with, I guess. He doesn’t look too much like you.

— Thank you for the praise, gentleman, too bad you had to be on a shipwreck with me, instead of his stunishing highness Xiaojun. 

— Oh, c’mon! Are you the prince of the desert or the prince of drama?

They both started laughing easily With Taeyong’s bickering.

Ten entoned his voice to speak like bards did when they recited the bridges in stories.

—I may be; or may not be; the owner of both those kingdoms.

Taeyong found himself laughing so hard that it ended sounding squeaky and high pitched. The man laugged with his whole body when he found something trully funny, apparently. 

He appreciatedhTen's sincerity all alone, but mixing it with a despreocupate sense of humour topped it.

It took him a minute to stop and keep up with the conversation.

— My point was that you two don’t look like siblings, not that you don’t look… beautiful.

— We are not from the same mother.

— Oh, I see. I didn’t know. Law at Ventum Anguis do not allow kings, anyone really, to have more than one wife— explained Taeyong way too diligently, earning a brief eyebrow rise from Ten, that disappeared fast to give room to let his following statement fall like a dead weight.

— Ignis’ law doesn’t allow it either— Taeyong choked up a bit, understanding where did the prince wanted to go with that. He gave him a sustancial look— Don’t pity me, it’s a thing that’s a little bit too clear. Even you can tell, so imagine how much louder is a rumor like that if it concentrates inside four walls.

— So… who...— murmured the boy, not knowing how to ask the question in particular— Who seats at your king’s right? 

Ten fulminated him with a glance.

It seemed so out of place to see Ten take the hidden temperament out, that Taeyong had to clear his throat and remind himself to stay straight in front of the other like a decent person. 

— There are divergent opinions.

Ten bit his lip when Taeyong nodded and looked away, to the horizon, putting an end to his questions. He knew that the mercer surely had many more of them, he could see it in his evasive eyes and his scrunched up lip. 

He didn’t want to brush him away like that but he had bo choice.

The topic was a hotspot and always got to take the worst out of him. He didn’t want to speak bad to Taeyong but he, more likely, wanted to ignore that he thrusted him enough to speak about it. It felt so dangerous, it felt like being too weak for him.

He shook his head trying to keep those thoughts away, becoming impatient and digging himself into silence and doubts, so much that it took him around five steps walking alone to notice Taeyong had stopped in his tracks. 

When he did, he turned, looking at him afraid that he would find anger on his face, but it was something else.

The mercer’s eyes were fixed in some spot behind the prince, and his face was verging on compassion, fear, and something he couldn't quite grasp.

Ten turned around alarmed.

Meters away, there was a scatered, messy pile of black clothes, torn apart and leaning on a big rock of the shore. Some red spots had dripped on the rounded stones of the shore with a bright crimson color, but the man thrown against the rock was still breathing, although erratically. 

First, it came the sound of the hesitant steps that Taeyong took to stay next to the prince again and then, the call, a lot more certain.

—Officer Jeno!? 

The sailor turned his face a bit to look at them in response, but he barely moved an inch, eyes half closed and unfocused.

Every minute that Ten spent with Taeyong felt like building harder agreement with him, but it shone more obvious when they suddenly broke their calm to run at the official like if they planned to do it at the same time.

The officer wasn’t more than twenty meters away but they didn’t know how much time he had been there in such a state, so every moment they waited was a moment closer to fatality. 

Ten didn’t want to cry. He told himself to refrain and hold those tears were they belonged to no matter how much his eyes burned.

What was the probability for Lucas to be alive?

Him, who came from the dry country of Ignis too, who expended more than half of the time in palace like him, wouldn’t swim as good as a trained corsair could and yet, as Jeno’s silhouette became more nitid, the more he looked obviously ill. 

But if he cried… if Ten cried, that would mean he gave up on his hope, and he would never give Lucas up for dead until he had a proof.

He was glad that the one to kneel down by Jeno's side the fastest was Taeyong, he was struggling with himself.

— Jeno, for the G- for the love of a mother, you are bleeding.

— I know. Don’t worry, it’s just my arm— he smiled weakly at them, but blood was blood, wherever the wound was placed at, and he sounded so honestly in pain.

— Just your arm?

— Yeah— his right hand let go from his hold on his opposite limb, uncovering the wound under his shoulder. He should have bumped on a broken wood stake or something similar while the ship tore apart because it looked deeper than it should, and rough. Ten did not have a stomach for it and he really appreciated that the officer put his hand over the injury again, letting his head fall back to rest on the rock— I’m so tired… I want to sleep...

— No, no, no!— said Taeyong alarmed, Ten kneeling with them too, due to the scene in sight. None of them were medics but it didn’t sound like a good choice to let Jeno sleep in that condition, because they were not sure if he would have the strength to wake up later on— We are here, Officer, you see? The prince and I. We will put you up and take care of that arm before you go to sleep.

It was not a lie to please him, Ten was already lacing his arm with Jeno’s healthy one, ready to be the point of support for the weakened corsair to stand and walk.

—Wait

Lee Jeno… well… he was young, and had plenty of things and traits to make up his personality, but among all of those, not a bit of idiocy was there.

— Yes, officer?

The officer released his injured arm again, this time decided to act. His healthy hand roamed under the lapel of his jacket, taking just seconds to pull out an envelope. The blood of his fingers left two oval prints on the floral relief of the blue paper.

— Would any of you take this to its consignee, in case I don't happen to… go there myself? 

The envelope trembled between his shaky fingers while Taeyong and Ten shared a look.

Ten jumped over the realization of how easily he was able to understand Taeyong’s eyes, and took the bloody letter off the officer’s hand. 

He flipped it over to see the front, showing a simple paper stamp with a lily. A storm’s lily, he guessed. And shining with the careful calligraphy of Jeno, it read: _“To my dearest, Na Jaemin”_

Ten raised his eyes to the corsaire, surprised and with the question on his lips ready to shoot.

He had fainted.


	10. When the sun goes down, long nights.

Ten was sitting on a chest inside the cabin they had found on their way. 

Honestly, they knocked on the door and expected big things, like a fisherman that should live there to open the door and said he would give them a warm bowl of soup and put them in front of the fire because he missed his deceased son or who knows what; but no one really answered. 

It was not a very orthodox method, but they needed a place to stay, so Ten kicked the door open for them without much struggle while Taeyong kept Jeno straight, his blood dripping random patterns on the white material of his robe.

It was an empty house, except from the chest, the single bed and the shelves with a few remaining hooks and baits, but it was enough for them, they were not in a situation to be picky and demand feather pillows, especially when they had spent two nights sleeping in the open.

At least there was a roof above their heads now.

Taeyong had made the officer lie down after carrying him in a state between consciousness and pass out for around five miles, but Ten had pushed him to a side in order to replace him as a nurse, gently but in panic.

He had to snatch the glass of water off the mercer's hands before he poured it straight on Jeno’s arm like if that was of any help. 

The prince, despite living in a palace, had received a bunch of cuts and slit treatments during his childhood… and a big part of his youth. Some would blame it to his rather curious mind but it could be basically blamed to him being incautious, so more than once and twice, he had put his hands or feet where he shouldn’t. 

He had to compose himself to look at the wound.

Those things had always make him drowsy but the officer didn’t have any other option but to be Ten, who grabbed a bar of soap, a bowl of water and proceeded to thoroughly remove the wood chips and clean the cut up as good as he could. Jeno had scrunched his nose to the stingy feeling but the fight of who was suffering more was tight.

Luckily, the prince had found a jar of honey, almost to its end, between the abandoned belongings of the latest host. He had to extend it wisely, as it was not much left. 

Pouring that on a wound was not as ideal as alcohol or peroxide would be, but honey doesn’t have an expiration date and would do kind of fine cleaning the bad organism trying to root on his arm so he worked with what he had.

Taeyong’s eyes had been traveling from Jeno to Ten in silence while the process moved on, but what made him definitely fix eyes on the latter was when he heard the dull sound of the prince tearing the bottom of his white robe to finally cover Jeno’s injury with a bandage, stopping any possible blood flow. 

The officer was sleeping now. It was almost a miracle that he had hold on tight to reality, like Taeyong told him to do, until they finished sanitizing the wound. He was too pale for someone who spends the days on a deck under the sun, and Ten also suspected he could be getting a fever, but he was too physically and emotionally tired to discern symptoms. The first thing because he aalso had carried Jeno’s almost dead weight to that sordid cabin for what it seemed to be an infinite way. The second, because he wondered about Lucas. 

Some kind of feel had extended over both of the boys that were awake, a cold realization about the futility of life. It was hard to brush it off like nothing.

—Why is honey good for infections?

The whispered voice of Taeyong startled him, and it was not because he didn’t expect him to talk, precisely. It had more to do with the goosebumps that arised on his skin. 

— I don’t know why.

— So you just studied this lesson halfway?— asked Taeyong.

He didn’t know whether he was trying to mock him or showing real interest.

Ten looked at him serious.

They were not more than a few inches away from each other, the chest of a fisherman was not that wide to let two people sit on it at the same time as if it was a bench. 

— I didn't study it, I learned.

— Isn’t that the same thing? 

— Nope.

— Then what?

— Empirical research of the matter

Taeyong chuckled under his breath, making the corners of Ten’s lips rise slightly. Yet, he couldn't laugh as easily as before with the oppression on his chest that didn't let him breath correctly.

— Does the prince needs to get stitches to learn that a knife cuts?— he teased.

— Does Lee Taeyong the mercer need to lose an arm to learn that plain water is not an antiseptic?

This time, both of them giggled together, coiling on themselves and covering their lips with their palms, trying not to be noisy and wake the poor kid up.

They couldn't be blamed for trying to lift up their own moods.

— You have a way with words, uh? Who taught you how to be that sharp? It’s also empirical research?

— That’s a personal feature of mine— he said trying to avoid looking directly into his eyes, but the only place else he could choose was even worse, glistening in the dim light of dawn— You know? To cover the fact that this prince needed to get stitches to learn that the act of sliding down the stairs on the handrail is bounded to gravity.

He waited to hear Taeyong’s laugh, and his words clowning him in whispers to not wake Jeno up. Ten was ready to hear him pick on him, not to see those big shiny eyes he gave him, laced with a tender smile.

He looked away and searched for anything else in the world to talk about.

— Who do you think that Jaemin Na is?

— I don’t know, I never heard that name before but the last name sounds like high range. The paper looks expensive too, do you think he is from a noble family? The officer Jeno is not from a high-class family, he just got navigating titles.

— Maybe. But I think that’s not really the matter, I think… If I were to call someone “my dearest”, it won’t be just anyone. 

Ten thought about the first night on the ship and the way Jeno revolved uncomfortably when he explained the trends of Saxa’s nobility.

He understood, just then, that the officer was heading back home and that he probably had a box with a clear crystal handlet inside.

He wasn’t bothered, he was shy.

Ten couldn't help but to think that, most surely, that jewel was now touching the ocean’s bottom and had a chill that shook his spine in all its length thinking about what else could and could not be in the Middle Sea’s bottom, to the point he got goosebumps and a need of rubbing the skin on his arms.

— Are you cold?

More than a question, it felt like a statement.

Taeyong did a swift move and his robe came down from his shoulders, taking it off and handing it to Ten.

He could have rejected it but the mercer didn’t ask anything, he just let it fall on top of his shoulders. Ten also wondered if he would have really pushed it back and said he didn’t want to use it all polite like the most educated royal, anyways. It didn't seem like so.

There was an intense silence after that.

Only Jeno’s heavy breathing could be heard in the whole cabin, but that was not a bad sign, in sight of the situation.

It would have been worse to be soundless.

Ten held the ends of Taeyong’s black and blue coat and turned it around to make its rectangular shape stand horizontal.

It smelled like ginger and sandalwood, it didn’t make sense to smell so sweet after all that happened to them but the scent stuck to the robe with an unexpected loyalty, and it threatened with infecting the prince with a special attraction for that mesmerizing aroma that floated from him everytime he stood close enough, like under the apricot tree.

He shook the garment once and pulled it on top of them both like a blanket, accommodating next to Taeyong and giving up to the proximity, fitting by his side anf looking to the long night they had ahead knowing that there wasn't a real bed to lay on to pretend they had another alternative besides being just a little bit tolerant with being close.

— Would it be my fault?— said Ten suddenly. Taeyong didn’t need to turn and face him to pay attention to his gloomy eyes, he was already looking at him, intrigued by how should the famous prince look from that close— If he doesn’t make it out alive?

— How could it be? No one has power enough to make a storm break in at taste, not even you, prince.

—Can you not call me like that?

The expression on Taeyong’s face became confused when the younger one’s voice cracked.

— What should I call you, then? Majesty? I'm sor...

— No, Gods, by my name!

—Ten?— the prince barely caught the gasp to hold it back from sounding, as he was shaken to the bones hearing the name flow from him so straightforward. He was unprepared— Is not disrespect to do that?

—Disrespect to who? To the crown?— started Ten full of resent— They are not hearing you. Ignis too, it’s too far away to hear you and punish you for that reason. At least when it’s just us… call me Ten.

— But you are the crown too, heir or not you-

— But I don’t want to be!

Taeyong’s eyes widened bigger than the usual.

He could have believed Ten's words easily, not because of his capacity to make them sound so solid even when he was only whispering, but because of too many things more.

Ever since he met Ten, he saw him more like one of those travelers that go around the kingdoms in search of who-knows-what, than like a prince. His eyes shining with only seeing the forest, his life all happy just with a song of a zither on the deck. He was not like a preppy ambassador trying to bring a cleric to chant about some absurdity he didn’t even believe in.

But it was tough to hear it from Ten himself, saying it by his own will. Because, after all, a shipwreck didn’t stop him, and he told the mercer he had to arrive to Per Saxa’s church and do the talks; after all, he got on his feet and walked to it’s supposed destination.

After all... it was the sole reason for Ten to be on board.

— I don’t want to wear a crown and I definitely don’t want to make you think I'd throw you to the lions for not calling me a prince.

The deep breath in, and its corresponding breath out, from Taeyong was clearly audible, collecting all the living emotions that condensated in both of them, from the moment they run into each other to the _Storm’s Lily_ ’s sinking, then right to where they were in that moment.

Taeyong felt sparkles on the tip of his fingers, same as the first time he saw the Silver Palace’s beauty and was washed away by the strong anticipation and awe.

He was so close to Ten that a whisper in his ear was enough, raising goosebumps on his tanned Ignis skin.

—Tell me a story— he said, making Ten’s heart pick up a dangerous pace— I want to hear what you have to say. In this moment. 

Ten turned on the chest and faced the other boy. 

He licked his own lips with that ruby color that Taeyong found so out of nature. He didn’t expect to hear them speak about a complicated royal story that he surely hated more than _White Curtains Today_ , but the prince appeared to be fearless for that matter too, and the anxiety through the night had become realer than anything. 

His voice sounded clearer than a morning call.

— In times gone by, there were three boys that were born to be princes of Ignis: Ten, Xiaojun and Hendery. The father, they share, but he is like a vulture in some aspects so, the mother, each one of the princes has a different woman for that position. The king of Ignis is not married to anyone, so you can say… by law, none of the kids should be a legitimate prince, because there’s no queen to claim them. But still today, the king doesn’t seem to be keen to settle down or behave like a decent adult, so he doesn’t want to marry or just choose a woman to take care of. Because he is selfish like the worst.

— Just like that?

— Just like that. You can say too, maybe, that a king needs a certain amount of malice and sense to lead a whole country. Our king thought that he already had sons that could be educated as his heirs and be chosen to seat on the throne, so why should he discharge his marital freedom for a legitimate son?

—That’s cruel.

—Yes, but he skipped the law for exclusive marriage because he is the king and can do exceptions. No one is going to punishe the king, isn't that true? For me…— Ten said switching to just tell him the story in first person and from the front— ...being with Hendery it’s okay, he is the youngest one and he was told to forget about sitting on the throne at all from the beginning, so he is refined but doesn’t even try to fight back. He just feels like a brother, per se. But Xiaojun… the more we grow up the more we hate each other. It reached a point where we have started being pretty competitive at everything, even in sword fight class.

— You can handle a sword?

— You would be surprised. I admit I have cornered Xiaojun a couple of times and make him roll on sand but, to be fair, he was not the only one who bled over that arena. In this terms, the most asked question is who deserves to wear a crown? I’m older, but he is more skilled. My mother is from Ignis and that makes me the national jewel, but he is a mixed child and that makes him a multicultural connection. Everyone has sided.

— Your household is a battlefield, isn’t it?

Ten nodded.

— A cold one, since no one really gives voice to their true intentions. Lucas is on my side, the guards are on Xiaojun’s. The waiting nurses are on my side, the teachers on Xiaojun’s. And it goes on. As regards my father, it's crystal clear that he favours my brother. Is not a surprise, he does better than me in politics, damn, I can’t even write well.

— You can’t… write?

— Not very correctly— said Ten shaking his head— It’s ironic because I can draw perfectly. By the way, I wasn’t paid a star for the portrait.

— Wait a minute…you painted it?

— Yes, I painted it, and soon after I noticed I hated it dearly. I painted the three of us as a product of trying to avoid boredom, maybe because I love the lastvtraces of a family I have, but it turned aginst me. What i was saying is… the truth is that I don’t want to be the heir, either— continued Ten, missing the perplexed face of the mercer— It’s so hard. So sad. Because… because I… can’t do anything. I’m rarely allowed out of palace, books and songs are chosen for me, I need to nail practically every skill I'm taught because I'm an “ethereal and out of this world prince”. I can’t laugh out loud, I can’t eat fast, curse, or run. I can’t bump on people, I can’t mention sex or even be touched at all... because it’s not proper. Theoretically I shouldn’t even be sitting with you at the same height, like now, because I'm always higher. But whatever happens I’m still trapped here, even if I don't take the place on the throne as the crown prince, I'd still be a minor prince and the same rules would keep applying to me.

— Let me guess, then…

—How do you think this story follows, Taeyong? Because I can't picture the end. You are my storyteller. 

— I don’t know— he answered, because the only two endings that popped in his mind were not of his taste and he didn’t want to risk reenacting them— Maybe you can turn your royalty song into an adventure poem, at some point.

— I doubt it— he said hurtful. The depth of his pain was on his voice and Taeyong got to feel the bottomless grief permeating his own emotions— What molests me the most, over everything, is that I always end dragged to feel envy and self-loathe because my brother exceeds me in every possible way, even when I don't want to be the favorite heir. When my father sends him to do things while I just have a garden that I can visit, a room and Lucas to talk to. I hate it so much. 

— I am so sorry.

Ten cackled due to the sweet reaction of the mercer, but he was actually crying thick tears since minutes ago. 

—You are apologizing in vain, it’s not like you decided it was going to be like this.

— No, I’m sorry about what I said to you— Ten was still reluctant to give up and sob inconsolably but it was certainly becoming harder. The eldest clasped his hand on his shoulders and make him turn to look at him face to face. The prince really tried to get rid of the tears on his face to stop looking awful in front of him as soon as possible, but there were too many— I told you Lucas was not your friend. That was not okay when I didn't know how you are going through or not. I didn’t hold your hand when I made you fall the first day, and I even yelled at you. You haven’t heard me offer a single excuse to my behaviours while you apologized for a lot of things, and that's wrong. I'm apologising now.

— It’s okay, Taeyong, I understand why you acted distant, I also abhor princes being a prince myself so how can you not hate Jungwoo?

_“and how could you avoid hating me too?”_

— But… you see… I would burn the Silver Palace with a lot of joy but you… you… are not egoistic, you are not greedy… 

—Greedy?— he said, feeling the minimum touch of Taeyong’s thumb wiping one of his tears away, still resting the other on his shoulder, keeping him close while sitting on the narrow chest— I can be greedy at times.

Indeed, he was realizing the existence of a vertiginous weight of gravity making him feel like craving one exact thing he could, perhaps, get if just leaning closer to his companion, just for a second, to test what was the limit of the daydream.

It was not very righteous from him, but Ten himself had given a speech moments before about the weight of the crown and how bad he was opposed to it. Maybe it was time to do something rebellious to cure his vulnerable sensations, and discover if Taeyong's lips tasted as sweet as he started reckoning they did.

As he had said, no one was there to watch and judge. 

Until Jeno murmured an intelligible trail of words from the single bed abandoned in the middle of the room and the spell broke faster than a collapsing glass.

Maybe if those thoughts had happened just one night before it would have been quite unstoppable, maybe they could have remained two cowards close to each other, but they would never know what could have been.

Taeyong got up quickly and flew to Jeno's side, putting a hand on his forehead and leaving the prince with an devastating sensation of urge.

Biting his lip, the prince turned to see Taeyong, who didn’t even need to check his own temperature to compare it with the sailor's.

— This boy is boiling hot.

Ten also walked to the bed’s side and looked at Jeno, sweating profusely on the sheets with his skin glistening alarmingly and the blush coming to his cheeks like a bright signal of something not being fine. He had started shaking too, and it didn’t look like it was on his hand to make it stop.

He opened his eyes weakly, like if he just noticed that he made a try of calling the two older boys closer.

Looking up to the royal prince perching at the side of his bed, the officer felt like he was looking at an unreal vision caused by his shuddering mind.

His pupils reflected that disoriented condition with a tint of fear to it, which only made Ten able to click his tongue worried and turn to the nearest window to open it wide.

The prince looked at Taeyong, whose face was crossed by a deep wound of preoccupation.

— Take off his clothes.

— What?

— It’ll lower his temperature.

— But he is shivering.

—He shivers becausw he thinks he is cold, but his real body temperature is insane… you have touched him, you can tell. 

— This is not good— said the couturier as he unbuttoned the jacket of Jeno’s uniform while Ten just get himself busy opening the other window on the opposite area of the cabin.

It was going to be a long night.


	11. Longing for change

And it was. 

It was a long night of barely sleeping for the sake of the Storm's Lily officer, shivering like crazy and then going back to sweat his own weigh on liquids.

Ten had been fanning him with the envelope, trying to relieve his burning body.

Meanwhile, the mercer kept his eyes open all the time, fighting the heavy need of falling asleep due to the early hour in which he woke up to walk that morning. But he had told Ten he won't fall asleep in case he needed help.

The prince, from his part, would have liked him to surrender to sleep, because the only thing he could think about, spinning endlessly on his brain, was an unnecessary attraction to fatality. Or what was the same, the thought of Taeyong whispering in his ear, removing his ttearsfrom his face and saying kind words to him that warmed sll his body. He smelt so good, his skin was so warm. Ten would have totally committed to the mistake of giving up to his lips when he got so emotionally exposed in front of him if Jeno wasn't there holding the edge of his robe.

— Majesty, I don't want to go like this.

He didn't seem aware of how scared he sounded or the way in which he couldn't let the prince go as if he was a nurse to his service more than the prince of Ignis.

But Ten couldn’t blame him, since that sentence was one of the very few ones that made sense, being all the others a cluster of wording that had both of the other boys unsettled.

Some of them were scattered concerns about the sinking of his vessel and the others limited to Jaemin’s name.

As for when the prince fell asleep, he couldn't remember when it was or how it happened, but the awakening was a blast of feelings thrown at him without care, like a bucket of water thrown on the floor to get rid of dirt and mud when a trio of children ran on the halls after a rainy day unusual on the desert.

He felt the calm and deep respiration filling his lungs, chest going up and down slowly as he opened his eyes to find Taeyong's sleeping form lesning on him, with his head resting on the crossed legs of the prince, both on the floor next to the bed. 

If it was a test from the Gods, Ten definitely failed with ease when, with a tingle of fear pumping through his veins, he ran his fingers through the black and blue hair of the mercer. 

He watched, in silence, how beautiful he was when keeping his locks off his forehead. A face like his could have been praised in the palace, becoming the envy of every man of weapons in charge of defending their kingdom or the noblemen that formed their court; but all what Taeyong wanted was far from it. The real him should be dreaming with the Silver Palace changing its pale light for a warm red of flames in that moment, since he was smiling dimly on his sleep. 

When Ten had heard of this wish from the mercer there was a part of him that would have cheered and encouraged him to do it, take a box of matches and ignite the curtains as if they were a candle match. All the same, he had felt a twinge of pain when he confessed it to his face, because in some way, he knew there was always going to be a tiny part of the world that Taeyong wanted to burn inside of him. 

Pondering about this matter, he almost jumped on his own sit when Taeyong's eyes opened to look directly at his, still tangled on the vision on his face and his fingers combing through his locks of hair. 

His hands paused abruptly at it.

— Sleepless already?— he said with a subtle laugh and the morning feeling sticking tl his voice, sloppy and rough. Ten wanted to die in that exact place and moment, not even knowing what fate dragged him to do such a thing or why was he so weak in front of the idea of missing the chance to caress him— You never rest?

Taeyong caught the prince's wrist, which made him think he would snap it off him immediately. Nonetheless, the eldest only got his fingers to lace with the prince's, giving him a tiny squeeze.

— It’s morning— said the prince with a thread of voice— We should be going, I guess.

— Sleep more, you had a hard night and you barely closed an eye. I saw purple morning light before I saw you rest.

— I can take it.

— Officer Jeno is here, still sleeping oit the fever. We must wait for him to be able to move, anyways. Who's the more obcecate person now?

— I’m awake— the titilant voice of the sailor almost gave them both a heart attack. Taeyong slowly let go of Ten’s hand, in which he had been rubbing circles with his fingers, and came up from where he was lying, standing to give a look to Jeno’s still sleepy countenance— Sorry if I’m being meddlesome and interrupting your conversation, but can I ask what happened? My body feels as if I had been run over by a carriage. Horses included.

Taeyong gave Ten a hand and pulled from him until he was up too.

His legs were a bit numb after sleeping for several hours while sitting on the floor but it was good to see Jeno with the layer of fog on his eyes gone and speaking coherent phrases beyond the stuttering and fibrillation of the night.

The prince turnt nurse put a hand on his forehead, proving finally that Jeno was indeed much more cold, the fever going away slowly. He had placed trust in the officer getting better but everything was uncertain through the night, especially with the frenetic moment of weeping that almost culminated with a boost of passion from his side. 

Anyways, it seemed impressive that Jeno had to subtly ask what was happening on that cabin they had intruded. 

— Can’t you remember last night correctly, Officer?

— I remember rolling around in bed and feeling drowsy, being unable to sleep, mostly. Anything else? I’m… wait— Jeno looked down at himself while sitting up on the mattress, gasping and driving a hand to his now shirtless chest, anxious— Where’s my jacket!? 

Taeyong handed him the envelope and his face relaxed in less time than what takes a butterfly to bat wings.

Jeno took it and held it against his chest, exhaling literal calm.

— Simmer down. You asked us to look after it and we promised we would— said Taeyong. Maybe the petition was a little bit different when it was formulated at the shore but it didn’t seem like a magnificent moment to remark that both him and his royal majesty were a step away from thinking he was passing away— Someone important to meet, officer? 

—Doesn't everyone have a special someone?— he said deviating his eyes with dramatism just to avoid saying that directly to the faces of his companions— But we need to make it to Per Saxa.

— I’m having a deja-vu— murmured Taeyong— We were heading there already, Officer, but we are unsure of the direction. Maybe you can dissipate our doubts when you feel better… we trust in the Expedition’s proper skills. 

—I’ll try to fix a good new course, I need to have a look outside and it’ll take a few moments. Luckily you and your majesty were not heading in the wrong direction and undoing the way.

—But Lord Jeno, is your condition even reaching the minimum level to stand?— asked Ten utterly concerned.

— I hope so. I would prefer to lose my life in the moment I fell in the sea than not making it to the city this time around, now that I'm here. Giving up is not in my blood!— he set himself upright and moved the sheet off the way.

He made a very brief face of nuisance but it was barely perceptible.

Ten and Taeyong saw him step on his feet and pull his jacked on his torso again. He didn't have the beret no more, so his hair was simply down, natural and giving him the real aspect of his young age.

At least now they had a good chance to find the right path.

— You are not the most obstinate one in the room, sir— murmured Ten with a tint of humor to the mercer— Definitely.

—Well, let’s not talk about me, right now—said Jeno cutting his own speech— I want to apologize, majesty, if you are here on the shores by your own, and I have to guess that’s the case since no corsaire companion is with you, I failed in my job.

—You are here too, officer— said Ten tired of the constant honorifics. He thought for a moment that he got rid of them the night before but it didn’t seem like it— And I'm not alone… Taeyong is here, as well...

—Yes, but as a member of the Expedition, I took an oath to respect the code of marines, and that includes respecting the royal crown and putting it on safe place.

As expected from Jeno, who was so polite and kind-hearted, he was excusing himself by the ancient code, but it was a long time since that was a bit of a duty book that everyone forgot. Even if Ten had been interested in being treated like almost an emperor, he wouldn't have expected him to pull out a formal apology.

— Jeno, everything is fine with me, really. I would like to know other things, better— said the prince forgetting about all the recent happenings and pushing them aside for a moment. There were more things to attend inside that room— As for example, how did you end up here. Do you know about Doyoung? About… anyone else on board?

— No, majesty, I have no idea. Protocol says Captain Doyoung and I should leave the ship in the last place in case of evacuation. I was helping passengers to board lifeboats but the stern broke and the mast fell. I don't remember a lot but I think I got dragged down with the impact. I honestly hope that the captain made it to the lifeboat, I trust in his abilities. 

— Officer Jeno— said Ten, suddenly with a senorial voice, and showed the salute of the Expedition to Jeno, with his hand on his chest. He owed him a comforting gesture like that, at least, he might have lost beloved collegues and friends in the shipwreak too, the leats he could do wss offering some simpathy— You did an honorific work until the end of your opportunities. The royal house of Ignis appreciates your professionalism. 

Ten bowed slightly in front of him, and Jeno seemed to smile more to that, returning the gesture diligently. 

They came out to a bright day, with light enough to make it look like spring arrived without a warning, the orb of the sun peaking gloriously on the sky.

Jeno moved with correction, maybe not as fast as his full capacity could allow him to, but doing the work with accuracy. He roamed around and found a bush with dry branches. It reminded him to blueberries, his stomach kind of kicking off to complain about hunger but mostly dehydration. 

— I feel like I shoved sand inside my mouth, we should be going fast to the Garden's City or I don’t know how I’m going through this bullshit. Let's see where we strived to. Do you still have your watch, Taeyong?

— Yes.

— May I borrow it?

Though Jeno was trained for sea traveling, a soldier like him, on the high range of officials have learned how to do that type of thing, in case an accident happened. And that was exactly the case.

He had been good at thr marine school, since he was a hardworking student that put his all into every task to always have a grip on his goals. 

He took the straightest branch he saw and stuck it vertically on the ground. Then he pulled out the watch and checked the hour, marking a line on the sand where the stick was projecting the shadow.

They waited, the clock hands ticking rhythmically and seeming to slow until they moved fifteen minutes and the shadow of the stick made a slight arch on the sand. Officer Jeno marked a second line on the ground.

Ten was silent, watching curiously to every act of the sailor with that intense curiosity that Taeyong already accepted as the prince's special aura, trying to decipher what Jenl was doing.

The youngest positioned his feet at the edges of the line and pointed to the right certain. 

— The west is that way.

Ten let out a tense exhale, finding out that they had been walking in the right direction. That was a total strike of luck, or a fate of Gods like some other people would have called it, especially in Per Saxa with that deep faith they had. By nature, he got up from where he was crunching on the ground to not block the sun over Jeno’s improvised compass and applauded softly as if someone had won the most challenging sword fight.

— You were right, Taeyong!— the called mercer was already having a wide smile on his face.

— Yeah!

Knowing that one haven’t wasted all his remaining energies into walking the opposite way was definitely a thing that lifted their spirit. It lifted it so high that Taeyong was already hugging the prince Ten with such enthusiasm that he almost ended up spinning him over the ground like a gracious dancer.

It didn’t seem like they cared one single bit about appearanced.

The prince gasped and laughed and Taeyong was, as well, giggling. Not even Jeno, who was there with his arms crossed over his chest, missed the details, trying to scrutinize what he had missed for Ten to finally let his head rest on Taeyong’s shoulder.

The prince knew his voice would give in to some softer tones, but he gave himself the freedom of doing so, because on a touch he had forgotten every little thing he knew about himself.

— You are quite amazing.

— I gotta say...— started Taeyong as he let him go from his embrace, a kind smile lumining his face— … it has been a pleasure to share this trip with you.

He said it. 

Taeyong had said these words to Ten, and although he chewed them tastefully at first, he found out a bitter aftertaste, similar to the ones you have with a farewell that leaves you cold.

When he looked up, Taeyong leaning onto the sailor’s direction guesses, he felt like the moment lasted too short. 

It kacked warmth, it lacked so many things.

Jeno, by the way, had taken the stick and was sitting cross legged on the ground, noting some calculations on the sand with it, murmuring numbers to himself . 

— We were navigating at six point five knots speed, approximately, for four entire days. We had an advantage on the trip due to the wind’s constant inertia. And… how many days have passed from the shipwreck, may I ask? I lost trace of distances.

— This is the third day— apuncted Taeyong optimistic— Majesty?

— Yes, three.

— And taking into account that a person can walk about five kilometers per hour fast and you could have walked… how many hours a day?

— About nine or eight? 

— Nine or eight!? That’s… a lot, majesty, what an athletic capacity… Well, that makes about ninety kilometers more. The sand grains are thin around this shore, the temperature...— the officer licked his finger and held it up on the air to check the soft wind— It’s 19ºC, more or less. Looks like the trees are lower too. I estimate we are on the shore of Si Muang Alun.

— Si Muang? Really?— said Taeyong looking at the sailor with an impressed face.

Si Muang was the outer zone of Per Saxa, it’s frontier, more than anything, for what some people considered it a part of the country and some others considered it a part of Caleo.

As expected, Per Saxa’s natives were always standing up for it as their territory and augmented that it was too far from Caleo’s central city to be claimed theirs. But it was just competitiveness between kingdoms, no one in the cities really fought for it, as the beaches of the zone were not touristy and no one would swim on them. They were in front of the open sea and it was needed to cross a small part of the way through the forest so it was uncomfortable.

— Correct, Lord Taeyong.

— I have never been here before. I admit it deserves the fame it gots as beautiful vessel of nature… 

— Then we are close to the city, isn’t that right?— added Ten a little bit shook up for the sudden news.

— On the outer part of it but yes, majesty. It still would take us sometime. It's twelve past half right now so it would take us the entire day, but if we start moving now and we walk diligently we can arrive with night. 

With this information, they felt encouraged, so the three of them, making a particular group, if watched by an outsider, walked with swift feet but without rush.

With the official's capable state back, they were saved. They won't starve or die with a torturing thirst. Jeno would not lose an arm due to infection or pass out from lack of blood.

All of those were obvious advantages. 

And that's why Ten felt his heart like an enemy in that moment, since he couldn't behold the stroke of tenuous grief.

He had already told himself not to get used to the feeling of running across the world by himself and without restrictions, but he didn't feel like it would end that soon. He needed more time to see the bright wonders of life, it was unfair to make him quit it when there were so many things unexplored and waiting for the prince to take a look.

And something else.

It was a rushed deadline to swallow the truth of Taeyong going away with all of those, like any other treasure, no exceptions.

Ten was stirring this thoughts endlessly in his mind as the entered the forest, hugged by the fresh hug of vegetation all around them. It felt cozy, with the warmth of an approaching home to arrive to, the floor gentle and mushy from moss when they walked on it. Each canopy of leaves and branches became more gentle, the flowers appearing like a subtle spray first and then in infinite rows of them like colored clouds, making the prince feel like he stepped inside a live action of his books illustrations.

He was looking around with emotion, but the worry remained on the bottom of his stomach, driving him to be biting his lower lip as he thought, embarrassed, about the things that had been happening lately with the mercer.

For the first time in forever, he felt like he was leaning on someone for real.

He was growing attached.

It was still noon when Jeno took a moment to draw his sword out, and started slashing some brushwood blocking the way.

They had been walking for hours and they were certainly closer to the city, as Jeno predicted, a muffled murmur being heard from the distance. 

That was the last pause before they stepped on cobbles, the smoothly paved road famous from Per Saxa welcomed them and soon they walked on the streets of the city, leaving behind the first rows of venues that made the warehouses to soon walk between a beautiful selection of villages and houses. 

— We are lucky— announced Jeno with a growing smile that couldn't be concealed by any mean, regardless of how hard he tried to not be emotional— In the vessel we would have surrounded the city and walked up to the higher streets from the port, but since we crossed the forest we only have to walk for a few minutes more.

—To arrive where again, Officer?— said Ten constricted.

Jeno looked back at him and smiled, tugging hard from his jacket to straighten the poor looking fabric that went through disaster.

— The Na's house.

The house of the Na's noble family stood between a beautiful entrance of paved stones, a fountain expelling clear water from its figures, flowing peacefully with a tranquil song that reminded the three of them how thirsty and weak they were.

Everywhere around it smelled strongly like flowers, the scent being so sweet it was fresh but somehow sticky.

Three marble steps were in front of the entrance but Jeno saved them quickly.

Those walls held emotions, plenty of them, with big windows and white metal columns to hold the porch above the elegant double door that Jeno knocked with energy. 

— It's me!— he claimed to Gods-know-who and took a breath to lean on the nearest column, barely whisper ing a "finally" while he waited for a response with his two guests behind him.

The doors opened towards them, coordinated like a choreography when what looked like a vassal, pulled from them.

— Sir? Oh, Lee Jeno, we were waiting for you!— said the man that gave a military sign to him and moved over as fast as he was able to, to let him and the two elder boys walk in.

A group of three or four maids, Ten couldn't count them for the velocity of their reaction, started greeting the officer with ease.

They both watched them welcome him happily, without saying a word and chuckling slightly, as a bunch of middle aged women threw many praises at him, squeezing his cheeks and kissing his forehead.

"So happy to see you back, officer", "Have you been eating good? You look like you lost weight!", "Our Jeno came as handsome as always".

They were so occupied on the corsaire that they barely noticed Ten, nor either Taeyong, limiting to some waves and head gestures.

—Ladies, stop, please— giggled Jeno—I'm so content to be here…

— You always so polite!— yelled one, interrupting him and making him chuckle more.

—Yes, yes. But I have to introduce you to my company, of course, since I didn't come alone. If you look here, I came with… 

—Jen?

Guided by the lack of honorifics and the shortening of the name, Ten and Taeyong tilted their whole body to the side to lurk around the corner and see who was the famous "dearest" that had the officer so hooked.

A tall boy with a small face and chestnut hair appeared walking down the stairs and through the arcs of the hall as soon as he heard the voice of the officer, standing just past the door with a look that really wasn’t the expected.

Jeno had lost the beret somewhere on the sea, his uniform seamead more worn out than it should and his face was wounded by tiredness and scratches. But if a thing was certain was that the son of the Na family didn't gave half a damn about all of that and ran to the officer like a soul out of hell, crushing onto his open arms where he snuggled like a little mockingbird.

The other two boys could only hear a tiny thread of voice when he told him his concerns secretly.

— I thought you forgot to come with me.

The officer caressed his hair with his good hand, the smile appearing on his lips, chapped by the mean salt on the sea breeze. 

— How could I _ever_?

—Jaemin, guard your manners— said a man in a tidy brown suit as he also stepped in the hallway with a severe expression that put clear he was the lord of the house, urging the young boy to get away from the officer.

Jaemin recoiled and looked at Jeno from a farther distance. He had longin in his eyes despite the coldness of his righteous education, that appeared to be quite strict.

Ten pitied him as he had pitied himself all his life, bymut Jeno seemed to understand. He simply took the letter, that has carried here and there, from his jacket and handed it to Jaemin with a dim smile.

The young master took the envelope and smiled too, due to the appelative on the reverse that was calling him the dearest of Jeno's heart. Yet, he felt immediately worried by the bright crimson stains by its side and looked at the sailor preoccupied.

—I have had some mishaps in my way here, I beg your pardon— said Jeno, more to the house’s lord that must be Jaemin’s father, to excuse his delay, than yo his beloved. Then, he added to Jaemin, in a softer tone— I’m fine, sir, you don’t need to worry for me. I think I happen to be one of the luckiest ones to get out of this accident.

— It’s okay, officer— said the father— I hope you are okay. Let us hear the story during the dinner serving tonight, we’ll take you to a room so you can rest, and we’ll provide a space for your companion that… wait a minute…

Taeyong got a little bit startled by the way the prince inhaled sharply when the man got his eyes on him and squinted them, as if wondering if he was right with his first impression.

The understandment crossed the mercer’s brain, instant like a lightning, but the intimate aura had already popped and the hall started filling up with the house’s employees called by their master, running to what looked pretty much like one of the princes of Ignis staying as crushed as Jeno under the arch of their house's door. 

Ten reslly hated the moment tjr council agreed to make his portraits public.

— For the Gods...come on, come on! Are you all here and can't get to work?— murmured the man, bowing politely and rushing the servants to serve Ten.

He found himself wrapped on a blanket, with a glass of water on his hands and several women also bowing low in front of him.

The lady of the house, Jaemin’s mother, also appeared by her husband's side as soon as the fastest maid informed her, with a face that showed all the awe.

But Ten rather felt the presence of Taeyong behind him, assisting the whole circus being put up only and exclusively for him, while his mercer’s presence rottened in the corner.

The prince felt like eyes were burning on his back and he didn’t know until which point he was making it up, but the sure thing is that Taeyong shouldn’t be enjoying the reception at all.

Ten was already moving his hands in dismission and trying to help the closest woman to stand up straight but got cut by the head of thr household.

— Excuse our inconsiderate receivement, majesty, we were unprepared and didn’t expect such an honor.

— Please, no… I wasn't invited… this… 

—Oh, phooey— said Lady Na rushing towards him with the intention of kissing his hand but remembering in her way that that was unrequited touch of the crown and against Ignis' law, so she just smiled at him. Every act directed to him piled and weighed on his nerves. She was acting truly sweet but his heart felt heavy and mixing with anxiety after all those days going around without the bundle of senseless politeness and protocol that felt terrible, he felt like about to throw up a waterfall of words— We’ll get you a room ready, don’t mention it! It’s an _honor_ , a true _honor_ for our house, to have you here. Forgive our humble house, if you want something just…

—Stop!— he said with an imperative voice that he had barely heard from himself in quite some time, his words already giving in. The woman, of course, put a pause to all of what she was saying and stared at Ten between amazed and scared. Ugh, he hated it— First of all, thank you, but you don’t need to bow in front of me, stand up, for the Gods. And I'm thankful for the warm welcome, ma'am, but I didn’t come alone so if you don’t mind… 

With a small and weak gesture of his hand he pointed at Taeyong, still not wanting to look at him, just in case he found something discouraging awaiting for him.

He didn't want to finish breaking down in front of a foreign crowd from a noble house.

His heart was pounding, feeling and intense vertigo due to the sensation of being dragged away from the boy at his back, crushing down all the bonds they built over the days like a house of cards. 

—Of course, majesty, a room would be set up for your _bondman_ too, if his majesty thinks that's convenient.

That was it, that was the cherry falling on top of that big cake full of expired whipped cream. 

Jeno was staring at him, fondly, with both worry and an inevitable curiosity, wondering if Ten would really manage to say what he wanted to say.

That Taeyong wasn't a servant.

The prince had opened his mouth to explain the situation like it was needed but every feeling was gathering in his throat and fighting to go out, getting nothing but an uncomfortable knot of words and an awkward silence across the room.

He was only able to wish to be swallowed in the ground.

Until the palm of Taeyong’s hand landed on his shoulder, his thumb rubbing a circle on his back tenderly and getting the electricity to wash over his body, all the way to his nerves ends, putting goosebumps all over his skin. Only like that he dared to look at him, dipping in his gaze as if a dark ocean had never been so peaceful and feel so safe. 

And he knew. He was so certain.

He had lost his heart to Taeyong, and he enjoyed the feeling of being breathless, razing his emotions so bad that everything that happened to the prince when being around him felt like freezing in time and becoming meaningless by the mere encounter of their eyes.

But it was not. All the presents gathered in the room to assist the unexpected and exciting apparition of the prince were taking their respective ways, whether it was cooking dinner for them, getting rooms ready or whatever a landowner does. 

As for Jaemin, once that he was left unsupervised he smiled sweetly at his beloved officer and tended a hand towards him that he held without hesitations, letting the young noble guide him to the garden in order to listen everything Jeno had to tell about his accidented way to his home. 

Ten was still lost in the immensity, his eyes somewhere over the tiles that covered all the walls, infused now with one more emotion that was hard to deal with, and present in the form of Taeyong's hand providing him with a shooting feeling, so accidental and yet so groundbreaking for him in that precise instant, when he had been pulled down again to live on the earth, assuming that he was a prince and it was his responsibility to act like one.

For that reason, his heart felt heavy as the realization that he was not supposed to go around pretending that Taeyong was for him bloomed inside him. That idea was a bud that people could start watering with ease, but in spite of everything, Ten was getting used to that habit of his that seemed to always make him crave things that he couldn’t have terribly hard. 

— Is it always like this for your every entrance?— asked Taeyong with gravity, breaking the silence and the contact.

— In this lane, yes. Gods, I had almost forgot who I was. What do I do now?— he threw the question to the air like a projection of his thoughts.

— You can start for a bath— Ten turned around to see Taeyong, flashing a smile that was trying to be reassuring in some way, but it had now turned lukewarm.

Or maybe it was just Ten, who was in need of something deeper and more vehement.

— Excuse me? 

— Well, they said they are holding up this dinner for us. For you. You are the prince so... I guess you don’t want to attend it with a torn up robe. I guess that’s what you do— he cleared, setting off to the stairs to search what the employees of the Na house fixed to be their respective chambers, but he stopped in front of the prince and raised his hand towards his face to, under the perplexed eyes of Ten, brush his cheek with his fingers like wanting to clean some accidental dirt on it. Ten was about to hold that hand in his and keep it with him when the mercer let it down and separated a little further from him again— I bet an arm that this household has put up a movement to fulfill the needs of a prince, no one is going to deny you a bath. Won’t you feel better if you take a moment too? You look unwell, are you alright? 

Ten took a deep breath in and tried to collect himself together, walking behind him already, since the eldest one had started his way to the upper floor

— And how are you, Taeyong? How do you feel?

— I’m happy that we made it here, the three of us alive—

They walked across the upper hall not knowing very well where they were going but it was hard to miss their respective rooms, at least Ten’s, since the door was wide open and two maids were extending the red cover of a big double canopy bed. Red like Ignis colors.

He stopped in front of it and looked at the mercer again, starting a sympathetic clash of glances

— And?

— Our ship sunk, we got lost, and it took us three whole days wandering around under the sun, without water or food, to come here, so I think that's all. I should be able to say that... I'm finally satisfied, right?

— Yes. Should be.

Ten nodded slightly and gave him a small smile.

He _should_ be able to do it too, but that didn't mean he did.

He had a point with that too but he was lacking a tint of conviction in his raspy voice and the prince couldn’t find it from down there, deep in worry to have been propelled to square one once again just because his royalties returned to him like a cold bucket of water poured on top of him. 

Everytime he had more and more reluctance about standing the title he was given, if they weren't enough already.

Only a question was left unresolved for him, becoming the protagonist of his personal tragedy.

— Do you need something else, _royal majesty_?

" _You?"_

He slipped inside the room, like a person trying to escape his own thoughts, and waved to Taeyong kind of lost.

— No. You were right, I need to take a moment. I need time.

Taeyong tilted his head like as per usual when he politely greeted someone, and then the door clicked closed leaving the entire room empty for himself. 

Ten looked back at the wide space, full of things, objects, jewels and silk all over, mimicking a strange picture of his own house that got his head spinning with confusion.

He didn't want a farewell so soon. He probably didn't want it at all. 


	12. The worst kind of pain

There was no place to doubt why was Per Saxa’s region called “The Land of Gardens” when seating under all those trees, surrounded by the rows of violet flowers perfectly organized by the servants of the house and the habile hands of Lady Na. 

A path of grey stones looped around the garden, beckoning guests to visit its best sights. 

Jeno was born in this land too, in his nature was somehow written that he should adore the green landscapes that breathed life and perfection, but he had grown indifferent of this sensations due to his education as a marine, and the daily life from one place to another through the blue waters of the sea.

Though at the beginning it was just an impulse to become a corsair, out of the frenetic anxiousness of not knowing how to manage his future, the ocean gave him a taste of velocity and freshnes, the chance of experiencing things out of the box without dismissing the existence of a polite code proper of the army. 

When he started sailing with Doyoung on board of his ship, he was convinced that frontiers were nothing but a mere imaginary line that only existed to do things more complicated when traveling, and his devotion towards his hometown reduced to just a slight homesickness. 

Nonetheless, and despite being not much more than a region, Jeno found himself ecstatic of going back to it once again, for wherever he could hear Jaemin’s laugh that was what he called his home. 

Even waiting the few moments that took the house’s nurses to properly disinfect his wound and change the bandages for clean ones was tortuous now that he was so close to his dear Jeno but couldn't reach him yet.

Being kept away from each other wasn’t likeable, never had been, so Jaemin could see the translucent urgency that Jeno symbolized when he came through the garden doors jogging towards him and jumping on him to roll on the grass with the beautiful sound of their laughs together.

—Jaemin, my Jaemin— he muttered just moments before the noble man sat up in between the thick plantation of violets. Because of the violet color of his clothes and the beautiful face, Jeno could have believed that he was just another flower of the garden. He saw him with the thin braid that went from left to right on his head, adorned with little white pearls, and remembered the gift for him that he lost in the shipwreck with pity— You look as beautiful as I remember.

—And so you do. Once a handsome sailor, always a handsome sailor. But what took you so long? I was deeply worried— he whined. Then he brushed across Jeno's entire body with a single look, taking advantage of the officer's try for accomodating in front of him to touch his fingers against his bandaged arm with a worried glance— What has happened to you? Are you hurt? 

—I’m hurt at heart, more than anything— he confessed— A storm took us by surprise days ago and the _Storm’s Lily_ sunk with it.

—What!? It’s everyone okay? How is the captain?— Jeno shook his head slowly.

— I don’t know, I don't know where he is or if he is no longer... It was an horrible night, out of the worst dream, I swear. I can still hear the panic of people and feel the cold rain. I foundered in the ocean and-

— You what!?— Jaemin’s soul seemed to drop to his feet, his face panicked, and he again hugged Jeno like trying to hold together all those worries. He then whispered on his ear— Tell me it’s a lie.

Jeno chuckled slightly, endeared by the reaction, and brushed the back of Jaemin's hair with his hand, carefull of not undoing his carefully designed hairstyle.

— I’m okay, love, I’m still whole— he said trying to be reassuring— There was an unexpected storm. I tried to hold on the wheel and pull up the sails, but the wind dragged us and our ship hit a sharp rock near the shores between Caleo and our land, so it started flooding and tilting. I was guiding the passengers to the lifeboats already when the entire ship gave up and broke in two. The mast fell, it hit me bad and I got tangled on the ropes, so it dragged me with it to the water. I foundered in the ocean and barely made it to the shore, but Taeyong and the royal prince found me there and helped me.

— The prince himself?— asked Jaemin, between being impressed and taken short when Jeno nodded.

— You’ll be surprised by our majesty's abilities, I gotta say. He even helped me curing my arm and my fever— next, the official put his hand in his pocket and extracted the irregular material forming a long band of pearl white colored material, gold embroidery stained with crimson red all over the place— I’m sorry that he had to spoil his robe to do it. 

Jaemin took the piece of cloth from his hand and examined it cautiously, rubbing the clean part with his fingers like his mother when she went to the market and tried to test the quality of the sellers’ products.

He looked up to the boy sitting with him on the grass and gave him a brief and crooked gesture, scrunching his nose slightly.

He tossed the silk back to him.

— Is the prince likable, then?

Jeno cackled because of Jaemin's sudden mood's shift that he was teasing and expecting.

— Are you acting jealous, my lord?— Jaemin snorted indignated and looked at his boyfriend, trying to hold his laugh to pretend he was mad, and piss him off too, in return. Before he could laugh, he directed a soft smack tohJeno's shoulder, but a corsair could see a hit so clumsy coming from miles afar, and Jeno was rapid holding his wrist and pulling him to lay on the ground again, locking him down under him easily and pinning him on the grass— I’m taking that as an affirmative answer.

Jaemin pouted causing a laugh on both of the boys, making the official feel at ease, finally. 

Jeno slowly, cautiously even, leaned in to kiss hiscboyfriend's cheek, but the noble man decided it was more fitting for them if he turned his face in the perfect moment, putting their lips together and attracting the official towards him, pulling him closer with his laced arms around his neck. Jeno smiled in the kiss, and parted his lips to fall deeper on it, getting lost for a moment inside the joyful feeling of Jaemin’s taste and scent, but he still had to get himself together and pull his beloved back with a deep breath.

— As I was saying… 

—You are no fun, Lee Jeno— he said with a simple puff.

— I’m very entertaining when I want, you know that already— he said caressing his chest distracted— But you also know that your father expects me to show that I'm polite and ask you out in the correct way. Don’t be impatient, I came all the way here, walking, just for this dinner. Bet on me I’m getting your parents blessings.

— I hope you do— he said springing up and closely pointing at the corsair with his fingers, a grin accompanying all of his words— I don’t want to end this party if it has to be without you.

His heart got to skip a beat everytime his Jaemin gave him that face. He must admit that it felt like a bundle of joy to his heart, as if everyday was precious, no matter if he spent it in his lovely presence, because if not, it just meant he was in the way that lead them together.

That same afternoon, when he told him he had to leave and gave him a last peck on his lips, forgetting about their supposed manners, Jeno had set a goal in his mind already. And although the plan was a little bit unrealistic at some parts, he had chances to succeed and a strange attraction to work under risk so he guided himself upstairs and knocked on the royal prince’s door. 

He felt kind of static and nervous, but after all the shipwreck experience and the days that followed it, his veins were getting used to hold that amount of adrenaline. 

It was not that deep when the prince swinged the door open and peeked out to see the officer, looking like a completely different person once his hair had been pulled back and his linen shirt was clean and lighter than his sailor uniform, with a beige color. 

Ten didn’t look like the usual, either, the latter on a thin set of night gowns and unsettled hair of wet tips, no pins or brooches.

— Majesty.

— Hello, Jeno, I’m glad to see you look healthier.

— Yes, uh… are you alone right now?— asked Jeno trying to tip toe to see over the prince’s shoulder.

— Yes, I’m al-

—Good, good!— cut the younger one pushing and shoving him inside the room, following him in and closing the door.

— Whoa, fine, why not, you can come in— giggled the prince, not used to being handled with that level of trust nor haste. Nonetheless, when he saw the serious and nervous face of the officer he forced himself to be serious too, thinking that he won’t be touching and hauling a prince if something important wasn’t going on— Is there something that you want to tell me about, Officer? 

— More than that, majesty, there’s something I want to ask you for, if you don’t mind— Ten nodded and sat on the edge of the great bed as the officer spoke, twisting his fingers while he played with them— I don’t want to impose upon your generosity after you had endured a lot of hard times helping me and taking me here, but maybe, by chance, can I take a ring from you? 

—A ring? That’s what you want?— replied Ten surprised that the question was on that lane after a speech that required the official so much courtesy, as well as secretism. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, stretching his fingers and showing him the back of his hands like a display case counting up to eight or nine rings. It was almost a bored gesture— Borrow any ring that you like, it’s not a very big deal.

— No, I don’t know if you know where I'm trying to go with this— said Jeno shaking his head with a sigh— It’s a definitive borrow, majesty. As in never getting the ring back. As your majesty may have noticed, the son of this house is special for me…

— Your dearest, I guess— said Ten with a grin that made Jeno want to turn his face away, in case it could get blushed.

— Certainly. The fact is that I was carrying my own ring in the vessel with the wish I could give it to him. It hurts me that it went to lay where only the Gods know after the hardship of choosing a perfect one for him, but it would hurt me more to go to my own proposal reception empty-handed.

— Excuse me, your what did you say just now?— uttered the prince, totally astounded, finally getting the gravity of Jeno's petition— You are getting married? 

— In the future I will. But understand me, majesty, right now Jaemin is from this noble family, and I'm not anywhere near that, bloodline wise— explained Jeno and, somehow, his words started permeating the prince with a familiar pattern of situations that made him keep thinking deep.

Deeper than he already was doing all the time through the nap he took and the bath he was trying to enjoy by himself before the sailor came through.

As he submerged his tense body in the deep and perfumed warmth of the bathtub water, his mind had stopped being foggy gradually, but only to get the firm idea of what he wanted.

The thing that he wished for. And it was not sideways with being the Royal Prince of Ignis.

For him, it was sad to see a young boy like Jeno so invested with his affection for somebody when his wish could be done in an easier way if their society was different and stopped drawing everyone apart. 

Ten had had the perception from some time ago but staying in Per Saxa made it seem like it weighed much more in between the religious acceptance and the social scale deepening.

— A father like his wants to ensure that the person that commits to stay with his son through a lifetime is capable of keeping with the honor of their name, I understand that, and I'm willing to be his fiancé in a sincere way. Someday I’ll be a captain… like Doyoung taught me a captain should be, but it’s still hard to reach Jaemin without effort, no matter my army titles. That’s why I'm asking you this, majesty, even when it makes me embarrassed. I can’t let this chance slip now that they gave it to me. 

— Don't worry, Jeno, I have rings galore and you are going to use it for a better thing than I could, so don’t be shy taking one. I know you are going to have a beautiful wedding and I know Doyoung is going to attend happily— Jeno smiled the biggest smile that Ten had seen him pull out until that exact moment, getting his eyes to look like crescent moons.

— I hope you attend too, prince.

Ten nodded, actually touched by the sincerity that could be heard in the officer’s voice without restraints.

He pulled out the jewel that decorated his right middle finger and tended it to the official. 

— This is my best one— Jeno examined the piece of jewel that had a precious laced design of rose gold colored metal and held an oval cut ruby in the middle, with a smaller round diamond at each side of it— It’s ruby and cooper with a gold bath.

— It’s too Ignis-ish, majesty— declined Jeno giving a tilt of his head and a look back at the prince, flattered but humble.

Ten looked to his own fingers and nodded giving him the reason, putting it back where it was and finally pulling out the one on left his index finger.

— A clear diamond set in thin white gold with a flower filigree should look more like the one you had for him, am I right? 

— So right it hurts, majesty.

— He is very sophisticated in that way, true?— Jeno nodded as he turned the ring between his hands looking at it from every angle before putting it in his pocket safely.

— True

— A noble young master that likes clear crystals— Ten sighed with an ironic chuckle— And now here I am. The prince is going to eclipse his engagement party.

— No, Gods, nothing like that— scoffed Jeno truly taking the prince by surprise— He is a little jealous, but it’s nothing serious. Jaemin is more spontaneous than preppy, having a prince watching him give his hand away is not a usual thing that many noble youths can brag about, he’ll be just having fun and waiting for me, so I don't think it molests him at all.

— Seriously? 

— Yes. At least I brought something fancy to this reception— Ten watched the official giggle and take the way to the door in order to leave, while he himself was unable to tell if he was feeling glad of being a mere object of admiration and worship, or just taken aback more than ever. 

However, it didn’t matter what he was feeling, at that point the thing had to do with appearance, and he had to either attend or give the feel of being a terribly mean prince out of modals.

He didn’t want to ruin a marriage party due to such a big stupidity, and yet the single thought that persisted in his brain, rooting deep, was Taeyong.

He doubted with intensity that he could bare his gaze through the night if he happened to look at him, dressed and acting like a prince, with a titilant shine of affection ready to faint. After feeling the mercer’s warmth growing for him, he began craving it more each day. And now that he had returned to the embodiment of all the things Taeyong hated, it felt like it was slipping off his hands.

Once again. 

— The maids should have given you clothes, perfume and everything necessary to get ready, I hope you find something worthy of a prince in the closet so it matches your taste. The party starts at eight o’clock, dinner is served at half past eight. Don’t wear violet. 

Jeno left after that, probably on his way to get ready for the party too, minding that there was only one hour left to go, as he had been speaking and playing with Jaemin for too long. 

Given the time flying by, the prince considered doing the same thing and picking up a correct set of clothes, a pair of shoes, the color of his eyeshadow and a long list that kept going in everyone’s imaginary of how the prince Ten of Ignis could look like, astonishing and almost divine when passing by.

With everything, Ten only found himself in front of the closet going through everything with his eyes and his bottom lip trapped between his teeth, considering hard if that was what he wanted, being weighed by the pressure of looking flawless and polished like the best of the people ever being born.

He couldn't process the fact of being alive with the responsibility and single purpose of being beautiful.

He stomped his feet on the floor and grabbed a pair of black loose pants, topped by the long wine red gown with wide sleeves and ends to the floor, made on a shiny and creamy sateen material, lined with golden thread and adorations of phoenixes.

He put everything on, feeling that the robe was heavy enough for his duties if maybe the set underneath was simple. It was even harder to walk on it after so long than he recalled, but he pushed himself to the vanity and sunk on the velvet cushion of the chair, hoping to find more accessories that reminded him of his obligations.

He saw himself on the mirror’s reflection, his head tilting to the side in order to lean on his palm. Only a simple look was needed to feel disinclined.

The sensation was asphyxiating him, especially under the fresh new clothes so, in an impulse, he started pulling out his rings and noticing what was the attitude he couldn't help to adopt. 

He wanted to get rid of all of it, it repulsed him with ease. 

He explored the drawers, selfless, looking for an idea of what to put up on his hair to don’t disappoint the family of Jaemin waiting downstairs. Or maybe do something rebellious just this time, his ideas were quivering.

Finally, he got a piece of jewelry that he liked and thought was correct enough without going overboard.

He stopped to stare at it.

He thought of Taeyong getting ready in the contiguous roo, as he had been basically obligated to attend that dinner too. He thought of how good could it be if he had the courage it took to approach the mercer and ask him to dance with him. 

Maybe it was not a question of courage all along. 

He had been betrayed by books for a second time in just a few days, as he started to understand that the love that was supposed to be sweet, colorful and wholesome, in his case, reduced to a bunch of doubts and risky movements. 

Politics, overalls. 

The brooch trembled on his hands with the loud knocking on his door so he assembled it quickly through on thr top of his head to get a hold of his bangs.

— Majesty? 

His heart kind of stopped at the voice of Taeyong, being not the one he was expecting, thinking that the maids would be returning to suggest him to finish getting ready for the party, as required from a prince, because he took so long in front of the closet that the tremulous sound of a String Quartet had already started in the salon.

He was thankful to the Gods, if they even existed, for that oportune interruption that kept him from his comes and goes over his appearance. 

He practically ran to the door, almost smashing his body against it in order to pull the handle.

The loveliest of all sights awaited him when he opened the door to him. 

Ten wasn’t expecting him to come to pick him up after the welcome to the house where he was dragged and delegated to be his servant, but he did, and Ten found himself being afraid of how marvelous the mercer looked under the orange lights of the sun going down, ready to attend the dinner and awaking an ache in his chest due to the urging desire of touching him. 

Taeyong had the deepest of the black eyes, like ebony, and the soft mint colored clothes that the Na family gave him were fitting his body like a glove. 

— The ambience down there is already flamboyant, nothing less. Do you want to miss it? 

— Do I?— said Ten sarcastically, forcing a tiny laugh and closing the door behind him, considering his beauty routine more than finished for the ideas that his mind held for the event, quite determined once that he was in front of the mercer— Well, I can't say no to this since I'm hungry, I hope that dinner they talk about is good, because I’m feeling faint. Let’s go. 

— You look… different— mentioned Taeyong, his fingers taking one of the stones that hung from the only hairclip the prince was wearing to examine its shape, making Ten stop in his tracks. Indeed, it was almost the only accessory he was carrying. No bracelets, no handlets, no rings, no necklaces and the only earrings on his ears were small hoops and the couple of rubies with a hanging line of gold— I’m used to seeing your face framed with many more jewels than this, I guess. Didn’t they lend you some honeycombs? 

— They gave me a whole pile, but I didn't want them.

—Why not?

The prince hesitated for a moment while the mercer passed his eyes from the stone to his face and let them rest there.

— If I only had to take all of them off… 

— Why would you?

Ten had to look back at Taeyong and hold his breath. 

Opposite to the prince, stopped by his own emotions, Taeyong had taken the time to style his hair, pushing it back and adorning it with a clip at each side of his face. Two wing-shaped barrettes with a small hanging emerald that framed his smooth features. His black locks slicked back except from the thin, rebel strand of head that curved over his forehead, big dark eyes with a shimmer shade … plump lips… plump lips… very plump lips that had Ten stuck on a daydream. 

He was waiting for a coherent answer and Ten had none to give him anymore.

He muttered the most collected thing that he could think of.

— Some hairpins are like a one palm long needle ...— “ _would you lie on top of that?_ ”— … and my laziness is strong before sleeping, something easy makes the work for this night.

He gathered all the dignity he learned in palace and proceeded to descend to the salon like a prince. Because he was a prince and he was back again at a place where that should show up.

— You need someone to take them off for you?

Ten almost tripped on the tunic, but he got a hold of it quickly and flipped the long piece of fabric back, gracefully, disguising it as a movement done on purpose to look at Taeyong who was walking the stairs down too, from behind him.

—Excuse me?— he asked with that flowery rhetoric that he didn’t like to use.

—In the palace you have people to take them off for you? Like, I don't know, Lucas?

He couldn’t believe they were having that conversation and, even more serious, he wasn’t even sure of what they were talking about exactly. Were they even having the same nuance in mind?

— Lucas can’t do that.

— Why not? He probably would serve.

— Because… he is my friend and I… won’t let him take care of that.

Taeyong hummed in response, indicating that the explanation sounded valid to him. 

He passed in front of Ten on the stairs and the later saw him so tranquil that it almost hurt, because he was feeling a drop of sweat dripping down his spine. Well, thanks to the Gods for making Per Saxa a green and colder country than Ignis because Ten would have probably melted down even being native from there.

He felt embarrassed that he was having that kind of twisted thoughts about Taeyong just by a normal conversation on hair clips. 

He was losing his mind.

— You look beautiful, prince.

Oh, the stairs were appearing too long for the prince as he walked with Taeyong, his ears taking the words that he just gave him in a whisper and his feet trying to be swift and elegant, two actions that didn’t seem to get along together. He tasted the note of denial in his compliment, his brain only getting to be filled up with the bitter sadness resultant of his wishes. He cleared his throat and tried to make his voice esteady to give him his equally low toned reply.

— And so you do.

— I had to. After all I’m the _page_ of the Ignis’ prince— he said.

Ten’s feet hit the floor under the stairs in that moment, feeling thankful that he was off the inclined surface when he caught the cold slash that those words made him feel

Ten did not know what to say. He was peculiarly conscious of how staying quiet was not the best choice but it was his only one, given his capacity. 

His mind kept going on and on until they reached the salon and the music became louder in his ears with the tune of _White Curtains Today_ as it couldn’t be any other.

People were scattered across the big room, no one dancing yet, as the guest were arriving in that moment, respecting the fifteen minutes of courtesy for such an event. The heels of ladies still with the chance of ruining the perfectly polished white and violet tiles of the floor without traces. The chandelier had a warm light caused for the group of burning candles that rained a romantic atmosphere in the room, they probably were scented too. 

Everything around looked more than exquisite for the promise of good perspectives between the Official Jeno and Sir Jaemin. It looked, as Taeyong had mentioned, flamboyant. It was exuberant and almost pretentious, within the formal look of not overloading the decorations. Or at least that was what he felt and could be seen on his features when the mercer, turned page, looked at him. 

Surprisingly, in that moment, Jeno entered the scene wrapped in a turquoise knee-length robe open over the beige shirt that he was wearing earlier.

It was a huge contrast with his usual sailor look to see him dressed up to the point of having a sparkly stroke of brown colored shadow on his eyelids. He had his hair pushed back but some strands were escaping the slickness of the tiny pigtail crossed over with a hairpin, not being long enough to stay tied.

He seemed to be more relieved when he saw them in the dancehall already, and rushed a little bit to them, nervously pushing his locks off his face like trying to return them to their original place. 

— It’s great to see you both came tonight, it’s good to see some congenial and familiar faces. 

— You look good, officer— said Taeyong kindly— And nervous, let me say.

—Well—said Jeno straightening his robe over his chest— I’m about to get engaged… “nervous” resumes quite good what I am right now, but to be more specific, I am terrified. 

— You are about to what?— choked Taeyong looking around, now aware of the reason for that ballroom to look as the most classic party to ever be held. The guests had started taking place around the table at the back, chattering about everything and nothing. It really looked like a small palace— No one warned me about this being a magistral proposal. 

— You are going to be good, Jeno— said Ten trying to call upon some of the calm trademark of the officer— You love him with a sincere heart, you don’t need to think of his high status tonight but in him loving you back because, isn’t it a fact that it’s reciprocal? 

— I know, majesty, it’s just that my knees become butter when i see Jaem- oh Gods…— he said interrupting himself with a shutter.

Both the prince and the mercer looked at the silhouette he lost his attention for, coming in his own party with the whole glory of being the protagonist.

Jaemin looked more like royalty that Ten himself could ever look, flaunting his violet set of dresses and tunics, as well as one million tiny bee-shaped hairpins that shone in silver, stuck on his hair.

Everything was deserving but his hands, naked from all possible rings to leave space to the important one.

Jeno was so deeply on a lost of words, mouth agape, watching him flashing a lovely smile from the other side of the room, that he just spoke his thoughts out loud.

— Are you kidding me? How can someone even look like that? It's not fair to grow up so gorgeous. 

Ten made a hard effort to not break into a roaring laughter, while Taeyong simply looked from Jeno to Jaemin digesting the information.

— Stop jabbering and go to greet him and his family, I can't believe a whole trained corsaire becomes so weak just by looking at a pretty boy.

Jeno took Ten's sentence as a useful tip and gave a firm nod right before walking towards them with a deep breath.

The prince also took the lead to find a place on the table, ignoring the indiscreet looks of people curious about the friendship that tied the young officer, aspirant to the hand of Na Jaemin, with a royal figure.

And so the carousel began. 


	13. Red Rose

A mahogany table extended long at both his sides, as Lady Na insisted him to seat around the center part.

It was a wonder to see how everyone, despite having a whole table displaying all types of plates, glasses, food and people; was stealing glances at the same red target. 

Taeyong was by his side, pretending, the best he could, that he was his majesty's royal page; as if saying that he belonged to an even lower class than that was probably not the best idea in the Na's house, so full of pretension and ridiculous admiration to the title Ten carried, as well as with how the events were unraveling, so he was patiently holding the edge of his sleeve with one hand as he picked up the steamed dumpling from the silver tray in front of them and placing it on Ten's plate without even looking at him.

—That's enough— murmured Ten when he was about to make the fourth dumpling be put on the line, both because he wasn't that hungry and because the entire scene was too much for his heart. Taeyong nodded and put it on his own plate instead— Thank you.

It was strange to thank him for a service, it didn't feel right.

He was repenting.

He shouldnt have begged for a mission out of palace, having to act correctly with a lot of expectations from the presents and distance from the people. He asked himself if Xiaojun felt just as nervous and out of place when he attended events, but knowing his brother, he probably was just a relaxed piece of marble with a gentle atmosphere for everyone. 

Ten took his chopsticks and had a breath in.

Knowing that Ignis used forks and spoons to eat, they didn't seem like a good idea, as he had to try another precise exercise that required him to be upright. He had learned it a while ago, he had to remember how to do it just for a moment, while everybody looked at him awaiting his silent approval, especially the lady of the house in charge of that splendid banquet. Even Jeno had stopped to stare at him, finding out that he felt strange when watching Ten acting fully princely after the days of natural interactions on board. Taeyong too, was trying to figure out why it took him that long and paused time to eat, so the prince took a leap and tried thinking _"let it be what it has to be"_. 

Luckily, the dumpling arrived to his mouth without falling scandalously on the plate splashing the sauce on his clothes. He smiled satisfied with the simple result, and because the filling of the steamed dumpling was actually delicious and tasted like spicy shrimp.

Everyone just seemed to be content wit that and could proceed to start their own plates, of which there were so many to try. 

Jeno took the chance for himself.

— Is it delicious, right, majesty? You may have heard that Lady Na makes the best dumplings of the city.

— Ah...— he said understanding Jeno's intentions and, indeed, willing to help him. It would help him going through if he was doing something for a friend and not just limiting himself to be the awkward boy trying to put an act that he wasn't really feeling or an empty, meaningless statue depicting the glory and demure of a monarchy— Now that I'm tasting them I can say It's a legitimate popularity, ma'am. The officer Jeno wasn’t telling vagaries about your house when he assured we’ll be more than welcome. 

—It's a pleasure!— she replied happily and smiled at Jeno too for the granted compliment— Please just enjoy the meal and tell us if there's something else we can give to you, majesty.

— Well— he said leaning on his palm and talking out loud, but almost as it was for himself— I could use some wine right now. 

Jeno arched an eyebrow, butahebignored it. A good cup of white wine won't make him bad, he needed something to get his muscles loose on that chair.

The waiting maid was behind his right shoulder serving a glass before he could count to three, and he was snatching it from the table as soon as she stopped pouring. 

Another servant approached, serving food to the guests that asked him, in order to fill Ten's empty plate with some type of sliced meat but Taeyong stopped him with a hand gesture.

—The royal prince won't take that, thank you— Ten almost choked on the wine and looked at the boy by his side with an expression that amassed together every feeling of confusion and frustration inside of him— Please give him the rice soup.

—What are you doing?— he murmured as the waiter nodded and went away to take the correspondent pot for the prince— Stop this, please.

_"Stop giving me the cold shoulder"_

He wondered if Taeyong was torturing him on purpose or if it was just how bad it felt to have a distance in between them, letting the cold slip through. He wanted to make him stop talking on his behalf, wanted to tell him he could stop playing the role of his servant, wanted one million things that he couldn't say out loud because so many people of noble surnames were staring at him at that exact moment. 

The waiter came again and left the bowl plate full of rice soup on the table in front of Ten, smoking with a warm smell. But, as an especially remarkable characteristic of it, having a spoon dipped inside it. 

He slowly returned the look at Taeyong questioning if that was on purpose.

The mercer was so serious that he looked aloof, with the hair out of his face too to remark that intimidating appearance, but Ten had already seen that he was not like that. 

—Put the chopsticks aside before someone notices that you don't have any idea of how to hold them— he whispered to him.

—Taeyong...

His expression should be a mess, to say the least, because Taeyong even smirked at it and how burned out Ten looked.

He swore over his name that tension and desire was consuming him, because he was too out of freaking place to stand once more of those smug smiles.

— Still want me to stop? 

— No.

—I thought so— another drop of sweat rolled down his spine, too far from being able to avoid thinking about how his hoarse whispered voice was so cunning, and being so close to him, face to face, that he could almost feel the words collide with his face.

Ten slapped himself mentally to wake up, and just put the chopsticks away to replace them on his hand for the spoon, pushing himself through the dinner. 

It lasted around forty five minutes, a short time in general terms, but considering the event thry were in it didn't surprise the prince that much. Everyone was there for a specific thing, and to dance and drink carelessly if it resulted good, so the food was mostly irrelevant.

Ten was glad that it was not that long and that the attention was, at most parts, at chatting between friends about the very indiscreet glances that Jaemin and Jeno were exchanging. 

By the time that became a recurrent topic, Ten had already had the second glass of wine, on that occasion to try to get over Taeyong getting his lips to shine brightly and glossy due to the ball of cherry ice-cream he was having for dessert. It was being a torture all along, from the look he had on that night to the rather cold and hasty attitude.

He was unsure of how much of the distance and coldness was true hatred and how much it was pretending in order to help him present the fakest side of himself in front of a crowd.

Between sighs, he was just hoping for the ball to not be as awkward and triggering as the dinner.

The prince wanted to ask Taeyong if he was doing it on purpose or what kind of nightmare was that they had built, swallowing him alive. 

Maybe he could grab a chance.

The salon was amazing, as the lights started fading out outside and only candles and lamps were the source of luminity. Musicians started playing beautiful songs, the younger couples began acting all giggly, looking at each other with the questioning looks of nobility's demure that invited each other to dance and be the first couple to fill the central spot of the room.

As expected, the hosts broke the initial tension, so Jaenin's parents started moving to the dancefloor gracefully to the rhythm of a waltz. 

Ten had watched events like that before, that was a sure thing.

Back on the palace the room for it was even bigger than the one in the Na's house. 

" _You dance so good, Ten, grant them a song. Just one. Half of this salon wants you as guide_ " was one of the latest compliments he had received from Xiaojun, laced with a smile while he had laughed brightly before giving a look through the translucent red curtain screening their spot at the salon and answering " _But how to choose who I want to dance with ? There are too many people here, how can I choose just one to dance with? It's insane._

That aspect changed in Na's house too, because he had clear who would be his only one pick if he had to. 

He trembled. He did shiver from the first tress of hair in his head to his feet, but he could not be a coward anymore, his soul was already about to collapse to keep it up and it has stopped making any sense. 

With the voice of his brother in his mind, he was hearing the voice of Jeno too, saying that he couldn't miss out chances for a beloved person, so his feet dragged him through the dancefloor, mindlessly heading towards the boy that was supposed to be his page that night and throwing out the window the stupid act of his royalty in the way.

No one missed the fact of a prince walking through the now crowded room with a bright red robe, gently caressing the tiles behind him as he walked by; so everyone paid attention at his firm stop in front of Taeyong who was about to bring the glass to his lips and sip on liquor like he couldn't have at the vessel. 

The sintetic page stopped to look at him, pulling an eyebrow up like if he could, somehow, feel the pulse of Ten’s uprising self-revolution.

— Tell me, majesty, what do you fancy now? 

He could give him a long list written on a roll that touched the floor numbering every little thing he fancied, all regarding him. 

It was about time to do something rebellious now that he had the chance.

He extended his palm towards the mercer that looked at him and then took a moment, that seemed too long for the prince, to put his glass on the table he was leaning on, and finally, looking at the him dead in the eye.

He took his hand with no trembles.

— If you allow me to be this bold, I would like to invite you to dance with me. 

Taeyong stepped in as the crowd sort of fluttered around them, like if they were about to discover a massive scandal.

—Do you trust a man that's nothing else that a mercer to dance with you? I don't think I have been taught how to do it as thoughtfully as you surely have, and I will probably lose the pace at times.

— I don't care— he mumbled— I like an obstinate mercer.

— Then how can I say no to the Ignis prince?— and, as he said that, they seemed to decide to coordinate with him and start moving to that well known steps of classic rhythms.

There were amazed looks, there were pouts of envy and there was a tremulous murmuring of questions about their royal majesty; but he didn't hear them at all because he was feeling a lot better focusing on his hand lacing with Taeyong's own, as the other rolled down to rest on Ten's hip.

He wondered with fear if that would be the closest he would ever be to him from now on.

— I'm not The Prince. I'm one of them. 

— I know, it's just that you look a lot like one right now.

As they danced, accompanied by more couples twirling across the place, Ten felt like he was more vividly aware of things, sensing that he was pouring his feelings out slowly and showing them to Taeyong with a flowy and almost liquid chain of steps. He was taking the impulse for it and his eyes gave a heavenly shine to the elder one, delicate from behind the prince's disguise that was falling down in little pieces. 

Taeyong pulled a little bit from him to move Ten in closer, radiating a warmth the prince had been missing heartily.

— Can I know why you are pulling out this role-play tonight? I told you to treat me normally and to call me Ten without honors.

— You said "when it's only the two of us", and now it's not just the two of us, by far. Indeed, I think this is the moment in my life that I have had more people looking at me at the same time.

— Are you uncomfortable? — Taeyong made Ten spin on his feet and caught it right after with a quiet tingle of the metal hanging from his earrings. He looked at him in the eye, pretty serious, to say the least, before he spoke in a whisper that felt airy on the prince's tinted lips. 

— You know I won't be doing something that makes me uncomfortable.

He smiled dimly, and for the first time in the night from the moment they arrived, Taeyong returned it at him, slow and warm like a spoonful of honey dripping on his heart.

The more Ten danced, the more he felt relieved.

He didn't want to leave Taeyong's side, even if he had to keep dancing forever until he was exhausted and couldn't walk anymore; he wanted to keep being with Taeyong, with his suffocating kindness and calm. 

Nonetheless, the rhythm started slowing down preceding the end of it.

— Can I ask you to do something? — he said, hurrying up before the notes betrayed him. 

— Try it.

— Drop this game, I don't like it.

— Which game, majesty?— he said pushing away the jewel that always crooked and ended up falling on his forehead. His hand brushed his skin ever so softly and then fell on Ten's shoulder again.

The prince opened his lips to speak but the sound of a metal spoon against a glass, several times, interrupted the scene loudly.

Both of them were aware of what that music was about and let go off each other quickly, to step aside, a circle of guests forming around the dancefloor while the violinist leaded the harmonic chord of a very soft love song with no lyrics.

Jaemin turned around, left alone in the middle of it, like a lost fawn on the woods. When the prince saw his eyes glistening under the candle lights, he knew that Jaemin was aware of the things that night held for him, but he had just believed it in the exact moment it started, surprising him with a breeze of uncertainty.

Ten could see him breathe in and out deeply, and it was the time of a respiration cycle what took Jeno to appear from the crowd and walk with dignity to his boyfriend. 

Ten found himself excited and nervous for the destiny of the officer, who was now like a friend for him.

He saw him being polite as he always was and bowed in front of Jaemin, but the latest grabbed the edge of his robe's collar and pulled him up gently. 

— There's no need of that greeting, Lord Jeno. Not to me. 

Everyone murmured excitedly commenting on the humbleness of the Na's son saying such a thing.

Jeno simply smiled at him, secretly used to more than lukewarm simpathy.

— Jaemin, among the two of us, I know I'm not the good one when it comes to express what I’m feeling, but with all, I want to try today— Jeno descended till he was on one knee, his hands holding the ones belonging to a Na Jaemin whose eyes showed all the happiness condensing to form a watery layer on them.

— Jeno...

— Listen to me. I don’t have conscience of any moment of my existence in which I wasn’t in love with you. Every moment of my life seems to push me towards you. No matter what I do or how hard I try, I just end up drifting back to you. I know these feelings are unchangeable and will last to the end of the world. By virtue of this, I would like to ask you: May you be my fiancé?

Jaemin turned to look at his parents with plenty of joyfull tears plunging down from his eyes and a questioning look with hopes on it. 

But he wasn’t the only one who decided to exchange intense looks with someone, Taeyong also felt like staring at Ten when he noted the prince’s fingers closing around his sleeve, pulling nervously with incertitude. The mercer watched him, leaning forwards, putting effort in hearing the outcome of the event and pulling out a great grin when Jaemin’s father gave a single and firm nod and the wail of the noble’s son was imminent, throwing himself to the arms of Jeno and giving him a tight hug, soon responded by the sailor holding him up and soinning him around the entire dancefloor.

— Of course I will, of course I'll be your fiancé!

The corsair laughed happily and put him back on the floor, fighting to draw with difficulty, due to his beloved's unstoppable hug, the sealing object that everyone was expecting.

When he took out the beautiful ring, he owned a choral “oooh” from the crowd, as its diamond expelled an expensive shine under the chandeliers’ light.

They were so mesmerized by the jewel and Jaemin's enraptured expression that they missed how Jeno’s hands shivered very hard while putting it around his finger. He only was calm when it slide completely in and everyone started applauding loudly.

The young master pulled up his hand to look at the silver and diamond piece fitting his finger, eliciting louder cheers as everyone started running to the newly engaged boys to hug them and say their blessings. 

But the mercer stood on his place until Ten occurred to look back at him and find that he was, indeed, staring back profusely.

The prince’s eyes fluttered, his lashes flapping like a butterfly.

In that spot, he noticed that he was too emotional already to keep on adding things that had no mercy on his poor heart, so he sighed with a weak smile and looked at the floor. 

— I can't handle this, Taeyong— he said with a trembling voice and his nails still digging on the mint fabric of Taeyong's robe, but over everything, making the mercer flash a gaze that he recognized. Compassion. Like when Ten cried and he apologized to him, but this time he didn't need to shed tears for Taeyong to understand him. He already had opened his heart to Taeyong and he had taken a look inside Ten that the mercer could not back up from— I don't feel like staying inside this flashy salon full of lanterns and garlands and pretend I'm happy as I could ever be.

—What do you want?— he asked, not sarcastically that time, not with remorse to the role he had been assigned to without the decency of a question from anyone inside that pretentious house. It was just with mere hope to help.

He looked at him in the eyes and thought " _You. And everything that implies"._

He felt like he couldn't breathe correctly and was tired

— Tell me.

— I want to end this party so I can stop acting like I'm perfect when I know I'm not, because it hurts, but I don't know how to step out of all of this. I can't play that part, I haven't learned it yet and it's engraved so deep in my mind to act a certain way... it's killing me.

Taeyong looked at him, and then at the stressing mass of people shaking Jeno's hand and praising Jaemin while taking his hand to examine the beautiful ring on his finger. 

No one would notice if he panned the movement good enough. 

When he looked back at Ten he made a worried face that took the prince with the guards down.

Taeyong dramatically fanned Ten's face with his hand and then touched his forehead with an interesting glance, making sure that the people still paying attention to them listened or understood his faeked body lenguaje.

— Your royal majesty, you seem a bit pale and your body feels hot right now, are you feeling alright?

Ten caught the glimpse of his plan in the flight, and shook his head in denial, weakly, under Taeyong's palm.

It was not a lie that he wasn't feeling at his fullest, at least emotionally, so it wasn't hard to play pretend, especially with the way he was touching him.

He let himself sink a bit more, leaning onto Taeyong.

— My knees feel week, sir.

— This must be because you are tired and took a lot of hardships to fulfill your mission diligently, you need to rest, majesty. Let me take you to your chamber.

Ten nodded this time and Taeyong granted him a brief smile for a couple of seconds.

Ten didn't know how he managed to invent all of that in a split second but, before he could notice it, he had taken the way Taeyong guided him to, and reached the stairs easily without a single complaint from the guests. It was impressive to the eyes of Ten but no one, from the dozens of noblemen attending that party, tried to stop them even to ask.

It's just that no one wanted to bother a serious and tired prince that looked sort of unwell after his work, they wanted him to sleep and enjoy the hospitality, in case he occurred to reward their kindness with a pile of gold later on.

The way up the stairs was easier than the way down, even when it looked the same, with Ten walking in front of Taeyong, feeling his presence behind him like a source of heat. The adrenaline of scaping the ballroom was running across his veins, knowing that he was taking his chance to go away from his heavy world of royalty, even if it was for a second to touch the sky. 

Only the cold of the handle of his door in his palm woke him up again from the sensations of daydreaming again, about to jump off the royal wagon. And only thanks to Taeyong once again, who did it without being asked for. 

Taeyong always granted him the kindest of treatments with a smile and loving eyes when he least expected them, he didn't have to beg for them like he begged for those concessions in the palace.

Taeyong was another world, very different from the one he hated.

He was the opposite.

The door swung open and Ten looked back at the mercer with an especial shine of his eyes, giving a silent call to the irreverent train of things he had started with the secret run away. 

He entered his room and knew he wasn't walking in alone. 

— Ten. 

—What?— He said turning on his heels to the mention of his first name alone for what it felt like the first time in twenty-three years of existence.

The hair clip slid easily from his hair when Taeyong held it above his head, a soft wave of black locks falling on his forehead like a gentle fan.

The mercer shook the comb on his hand, awakening the tinkling of the stones that hung from the pendants, and then sent it flying to the dressing table with a high shot that probably shattered it on the wood.

Ten found Taeyong's staring back at his own and felt all the things in his world precipitating and exploding on the floor.

Someone had to move him from his place or either he would die on his feet, waiting forever, since he couldn’t see himself wanting to leave the dark brown pool of Taeyong's irises or the feelings expanding in his chests unstoppable because he kicked down the only wall left to hold them inside his heart. 

Taeyong reached out and pulled Ten from his hand, driving him closer to his body.

The younger boy felt the adrenaline rush, suddenly peeking over the top when the other’s arm laced behind his waist and he ended solidly caught against Taeyong’s front. Warmth and static electricity started raising between them as the eldest one leaned on him, shorting the few inches that separated them. 

Ten could not help but close his eyes and let the thoughts flood him, but as soon as their lips touched, the feelings took over, and his boundaries vanished. 

Taeyong’s lips brushed his own, soft and gentle, melting over him with a warm sensation, out of the best dream he had ever had. It made them both start giving in, finally, surrendering to each other’s touch and the playful fidgeting of caresses and fiddling with each other's hair.

After all the time holding back, his taste was the only thing that Ten wanted to try on his mouth, sloppy and slow, molding against his while their breaths mixed perfectly creating a new over sweetened flavor that burned with an aftertaste of the dinner’s wine. 

But Ten didn’t want his gentleness. 

He took Taeyong’s face on his hand and drew him closer to him, if that was even possible without fusing their bodies together, hearing the light groan that made Taeyong's chest vibrate.

There was the tud of his room’s door when the mercer kicked it closed, to then surround him with his arms and slip his tongue in his mouth. 

And the more Taeyong deepened the kiss and his hand became just a tad more loose, touching his body up to his hip, the more hungry and impatient the prince got.

He felt glad to the Gods when he felt his lover starting to fall over him, kissing his neck and noting the tense pulse of the prince under his skin when he angled his head back allowing Taeyong to do what he pleased with freedom.

Ten’s fingers slowly creeped up to the back of his neck and tangled on his locks, sending a bunch of tingles across his scalp and other parts of his body he didn't want to think about, as he went from Ten's neck to his collarbone, and his throat, and back up to his mouth, prudent and mellow, since every inch of his body was worthy to take time caressing. 

The prince’s heartbeat was drumming in his chest. He though if it was, by chance, of any sense to keep himself away from Taeyong’s lips anymore. There wasn’t even a little space to doubt the answer, so the mercer felt the prince pushing his tongue in his mouth, temptingly enough to make Taeyong believe he shouldn’t have wasted the king size canopy bed he surely had at the palace. 

But he had no time for a slap of jealousy, he only had time to drive his hands down on Ten’s chest. 

The thing they both detested the most in that unparalleled spawn of time were Per Saxa’s dresses, all complicated and heavy like that. 

The robe was the easiest to get rid of when he pushed it past the prince’s shoulders and it dropped heavily, the opulent fabric lined with jewels and other beautiful adornations falling down to his elbows with its own weight, exposing all his shoulders, his chest and his stomach. But then he had to take his fingers to battle the knots of the pants until they gave up and they could fall to the floor.

Ten suddenly took a deep breath, as if he had been oppressed under all of those coats of royal garments and was finally freed, but the only reason was the touch of Taeyong falling directly on his skin and driving him to the edge.

He too, tugged from the cord around Taeyong’s waist and opened his more simple tunic, hurrying up to connect their skin together now that he had free way. 

To the touch of his hot skin, Taeyong hissed under his breath, and the prince had to look at his face from the place on his shoulder where he was letting a rain of kisses fall. 

— Is something wrong?

Taeyong smirked at the question and pulled from Ten towards him, making his hips roll over his own, provoking a serious sparkle in both of them. The younger one had to refrain from responding to that with any rushed sound of fervency.

— I’m thinking… how fun it is that, after all this time, a prince finally can make me want to get on my knees?— Ten could bet his entire library that Taeyong physically felt the repercussion of that phrase arising shamelessly between their bellies— And if you want, I will do it, even if I have to take off twelve hairpieces… even if you leave all of them on… 

—Please—is not that Taeyong hadn’t learnt already that a prince could and would beg for things, it wasn't that what caused his surprise but rather the way it sounded when Ten said it to him. It was more worthy to be called a moan than a word, and out of those wet lips that looked like the best rubies of Ignis, nothing felt innocent anymore. 

He couldn’t put up in words what he wanted, but Taeyong understood what he meant by the mere way in which his hands caressed his back and his lashes fluttered.

In between his arm the eldest one held him and started kissing his chest like if there was a set goal number of pecks to reach. Every one of them felt like it was a mark of flames burning on his tanned skin as if it was just lettering paper.

The tingles on his stomach accompanied him, as well, when the mercer held his hips and his free hand tempted him, going from his jaw and down his throat and chest in an agonic line downwards.

The eldest looked at him from head to toe, his eyes drinking from the scene and trying to record that in his mind with detail. The prince was so pretty that there was no chance for him to avoid the impulse of touching him, but for a moment, the latter couldn’t look back to return the stare.

He had to let his head flop with his face hiding on Taeyong’s shoulder until the tip of Taeyong’s fingers grazed his sensitive shaft and he snorted quietly against his body.

— Tell me… tell me that I’m not your first— he said in response to the sounds Ten was trying to refrain as his hand stroked up and down slowly.

Hopefully, the music at the salon would be drowning those low purrs that actually escaped from his control and made Taeyong sweat. 

His head snapped up, eyes concentrated on Taeyong with the corners of his lips curling up.

— So you wouldn't love to hear you are?

— I wouldn't believe you.

—Think what you want to think—he said, giving up and pressing their bodies together as his hips moved against Taeyong’s hand by the mere necessity of feeling it— Tonight I’ll be yours, anyways.

Taeyong inhaled softly with the response, planting the last of his superficial kisses on Ten’s mouth and crossing the last line in between them. 

The prince knew it would feel good, even a couple of thoughts about it slipped in his brain accidentally while the days in his company passed with the natural rhythms of his interest, but it had nothing to compare to the _real_ sensation of Taeyong's lips dripping down his body as he, indeed, finally succeeded in kneeling down in front of a prince, grabbing the edges of the red robe that still hung from his elbows and tuggin from it to make Ten step closer, crushing against the flesh of his hip and holding him still. 

Ten could try not to, but rationality died and his lips parted with a moan when Taeyong rolled his lips lower and welcomed his girth in the torrid cavity of his mouth. 

The younger one tensed, as if he had been hit with an intense wave of elation, but then Taeyong let go of his flesh.

He tugged again from his clothes, slowly making the royal turn around and feel the warmth of his breath blow in the middle of his asscheeks, proceeding to lick all the way up, making his bud wet first to then move his hands all the way up his thighs to his firm buttocks, spreading them to run his tongue all around the entrance with a new, hot and wet feel for the prince.

Very slowly, Taeyong started to push a bit harder every time, as the prince relaxed enough to feel how Taeyong stroked a wave that sent him giddy and eclipsed everything else.

His vision darkened and his entire body felt like giving in to that sweet and damp love.

— Does that feel right?

Ten let his head flop back to face the ceiling, his hair brushing away from his face that started to look so pleased due to the moist lips of the eldest, treating him to the best feeling of pleasure with a flick of his tongue and his fingers sinking in the golden flesh of his hip, trying to control himself to not go straight to the end. 

— It feels better than good— he chirped— I, all the time, craved for your touch, even if it was just a bit. I can’t say this is not a beautiful upgrade.

With a clear grin, Taeyong stuck his tongue out and made contact with his sensitive area once more, rimming before the eldest slowly shoved it in, making Ten’s lips part with a gasp.

He toyed with it, pushing it in further and provoking the prince to squirm as his hips couldn't help but sway to pursue a more intense sensation that was making him more aroused that he had probably ever been. He felt the tight tension coiling in his stomach, and his dick twitched as Taeyong's tongue lapped in between his walls, finding a spot that he pressed too good to be just an accidental move, sending Ten moaning louder that time. 

His face had warmed up, and his entrance had became much softer and looser than before.

He was all in the pressure of Taeyong's nails on his hips carving marks in his skin, while his right hand left to a better place with his fingers joining the way of his tongue, pushing through and setting Ten's body alight.

His mind blurred and the only thing he could register was the avid eagerness in which Taeyong's mouth was opening him like a blooming flower drenched on bliss.

It had been quite long since he had been loose for anyone, maybe never to such extent. Not that slow and sensual. Not leaving a mark of such deep in his fast beating heart.

Ten was an impatient person, and so he wanted to encourage Taeyong, tell him that he was dying for him and needing him to go faster, but his body was just reacting to the feeling of his cherry lips taking care of him and his tongue going flat against his hole, sucking and letting the prince enjoy the pleasure.

He moved according to his instinct, supporting himself with a hand on the column of the bed and moving the other one down on his body, gasping at the overwhelming sensitivity of his hard member when he touched it. Too heated to leave it unattended, he used his fingers to brush the tip, shyly playing with it at first, but then the excitement kept growing and he started fidgeting and moving his hand, slowly up and down.

His bliss was building up, and his moans accompanied with trembling knees were enough to make the mercer know he had to stop and stand up again if he wanted to make him last on the edge of collapse.

Taeyong took his whole body to press against Ten’s back as the prince wondered if he could even look at him without losing his sanity and just jump him. 

He wanted to go fast and had it all at once, but at the same time, he wanted to take all the time possible and never leave the fantasy that had been so hard to reach. He wanted to live in that world where he had finally known _his_ Taeyong. His very own tale of exotic wonders where he studied every part, sensation and possibility within the man. 

The latter was brushing his face against Ten's shoulder now, then kissing his neck or his shoulder. The excitement was making his breath to be heavy while he flounced to take his mint robe completely away from himself and toss it on the floor, revealing more of his beautiful body, so smooth and toned against the prince's warmth.

Soon, and he ignored how, Ten was falling back on the matres, making some of the beautifully embroidered cushions drop from its edges when he landed on the pile of them, where he sunk, wishing to lose his mind completely. Wishing to come out the asphyxiating delight that had him intoxicated enough for his breath to be blocked. 

They rolled on the bed, kissing deeply and touching each other, feeling skin graze against skin with an intimacy that no one could have experienced outside those four walls.

The prince parted his lips with a sigh of satisfaction and happiness, letting the mercer put one of his knees in between his thighs to spread his legs. 

Taeyong touch occured to be so good to him that he just wanted his heart to burst with passion and consume him, that exact night in that exact bed. And because of that, he rolled his hips against him, grinding almost unconscious of it, panting and feeling the trembling hardness of his partner press against his thigh and awarding him with a shock of pride for really, finally, getting Taeyong to show him he felt the same way he had inside his chest, frankly and straight as an arrow. 

It was scary to think outside the bed, beyond their hug. It was impossible, anyways, to focus on anything that wasn’t Taeyong’s shaft, swollen, full of need. Ten couldn’t help but to put his hand around him and squeeze it, only hard enough to make the eldest’s hips move up against his hand with a sound that made his stomach flip and his blood bubble as it boiled. 

It sounded just like sin.

Just by looking down, through the lashes of his hooded eyes, Ten could see the natural blush painting Taeyong's cheeks with heat, and his eyes glistening under the dim candle lights of the lamp before they squinted closed due to the prince tightening his grip. He began playing with his member and jerking him off. 

Taeyong was tinted with a sincere glaze of whim, like he needed him just as much as Ten did. The prince knew it was genuine.

His body felt too hot, even when he had made the red robe fall off his shoulders to be fully naked in front of the mercer. 

Hot, heavy and sloppy, it felt like all of that when Taeyong pushed him away and flipped him over, with his weight falling on him.

They were face to face, the latter atop of him.

The prince let him do, massaging his thigh while he shifted and, with his hand gripping his shaft, Taeyong entered inside his already creamy and swell hole, slowly but filling him up as far as he could go. 

— Oh… shit. 

His senses heightened instantly, and so his hips bucked against him. Nonetheless, Taeyong pulled back again until only the tip was in and then slammed down again, with a groan and not giving a lot to leisure that time.

It was enough to put the prince in orbit. He fisted the sheets in his hands, and his head fell back on the pillow at the time he raised the volume of his sounds without even planning it.

Slowly, the eldest one continued to thrust deeper, placing his hands on Ten's chest to get a hold of himself, in terms of not losing it all. 

Taeyong’s slow thrusts became more frantic, approaching that weak spot that was already making Ten moan especially hot and trickle on his abdomen. 

In a moment like that, just by looking, Taeyong could see and know what Ten was needing so much, and he wasn’t in a different square.

Ten's eyes closed hard, brows knitting and lips parted with the breathy sounds od rapture.

They both were building a pace of friction that made his head spin, whilst the mercer kept moving his hips deliciously, hitting every filament of pleasure hidden in Ten’s body.

With every thrust it become more sensitive than the previous one for both. 

Taeyong's sticky and addictive breath fell upon Ten's lips right before his mouths joined again.

A voice, very deep inside his brain was telling him “ _this is not okay, we shouldn’t"_ but the sound of the bed’s header hitting the wall reduced it to a nimius whisper and the soft tingle of the silver hairpins on Taeyong's hair swinging.

He couldn’t care less about the laws, royalty couldn’t be anything inportant for him if that pleasure was not part of what someone called lavish living. 

— What have you done to me?— he heard the eldest asking him before returning his eyes at him again.

That damned boy seemed like he had been put on the world to find his ruin, and that he did everything on purpose to destroy him and his sanity.

He confirmed his suspicions a second later, with the moan that closed his sentence and made his entire self vibrate. It was low enough to make the prince the only one allowed to listen to such music, due to his proximity, like if he was just given a little present under the table.

He tried to refrain but his fingers tangled on his hair and tugged from the mercer getting him to kiss him with thirst, knowing no other answer. Taeyong’s hips were still rolling and circlimg against his, creating a symphony of wet quiet sounds.

The older one moved like no one else would have done in the court, he made him feel like no one would ever do in the world.

— What have I done to deserve this? Tell me, please, I have never seen you so quiet, my prince.

— Only an incoherent trail of words would leave my mouth if I open it— he answered with his voice trembling hard, giving credence to what he said. 

If he called him prince like that, if he used that title with the charming accent of his voice while dipped in lust, he couldn’t feel like hating it, he only would ask him to do it again. 

Taeyong gave a harder thrust and watched his prince hiccup with one of those subtle velvety groans.

He was shaking already and getting tangled on his own robe, open under them with all those endless folds of fabric. He never cared about letting them get stained and that time didn't make any exception with Taeyong leaning on him and feeling himself at those slams turning sharper.

— Like what?

— Things like I have never seen someone with eyes so beautiful or with lips so enticing. That you smell like sandalwood, that I have been waiting for this…— he said with the impulse, his hands closing tighter around the mercer’s hair and his attention falling deep inside his orbs— That I love you. Like I shouldn’t. 

Taeyong’s face showed all the light it could flash, his heart feeling the throb with ease in front of that confession.

— Any incoherence else that I should hear about?— the nails of the youngest one's free hand started sinking in his lower back, breath rushing and sounding heavily from his chest.

— That I’m… I'm so…close— he interrupted himself, since he couldn't do more than moan and moan.

He tensed under Taeyong’s gaze like a cat under the sun and then he felt the whip of pleasure crossing his entire body and shaking him all over, ripping and indecently loud moan that nothing had to do with royal manners. 

He felt his face getting red, especially when Taeyong accompanied him with a noise very similar to his own that resounded against his shoulder. 

Then Ten felt it. He felt the warmth spreading inside him like a wave. It was weird, but at the same time so pleasant. 

His vision was lost in the ceiling and his breath was ragged like it had never been when his lover toppled over and fell on his chest, worn out. His cheeks were blushed, and the edge of his blue hair wet and sticking to his forehead, with the ecstasy still tracing sparkles in his skin.

They felt each other’s hearts beating abnormally fast, heaving sighs and pants of exhaustion mixed with rapture. 

— Me too— announced Taeyong after a few minutes.

— You too what?

— Me too. I love you like I shouldn’t— The prince's chest did a strange and dangerous movement when he listened to those words. Words that he actually was mildly aware of, but a small part of his brain still refused to believe that it was happening to him— It is hard to deal with it, but you have become a mortal danger for my heart.

— Is this what it feels like? That’s what loving you feels like?— he asked with a chuckle as the bliss still moved through his veins. Taeyong sat on the bed, with his skin beaming under the dim light, and stared at Ten, long and paused, while his ragged breath mixed with a very needed and enough delayed confession that had both of them edging from who-knows-when— Because it’s breathtaking and I don't know how well I can manage it.

— The worst part is that you think it doesn’t work both ways.

— Hmm?

— You think it’s only me who can cause that, as if you weren’t an entire pandemonium. 

— Don’t give me empty words just to please me, I hate it— he told him in a breath, caused by the mere lack of comprehension, for his brain wasn't entirely ready to process what he was being told— And you know it.

—That’s what I was talking about… It’s not flattery, it’s what I genuinely think. Look at yourself, when I thought you couldn’t get more beautiful you just…—He made a gesture, interrupting himself, for he was out of words. Ten felt like blushing— And not only that. You are more than just beautiful. Look at me, Ten, I am losing my mind for you. 

He was still out of breath and left himself fall back, intertwined with Taeyong, to place both of them comfortably on the pillow. A mushy pillow like the one he had back at home. He didn’t miss it at any time.

Then, he just whispered.

— But I thought you hated me. 

— I did. I hated what I thought you were, just for a few days before it hit me. You taught me that that wasn’t you, you are so fascinating and keep showing me so many of your wonders. You have taught me that I was mistaken. I foregudged you. 

More of the cushions fell off when Ten rolled over to face him. His eyes fixed on the other’s and, once again, he could taste the feel of Taeyong's lips lingering over his as he realized that he would never have enough of them.

He took a deep breath in, with a tranquility that surprised even himself, his hand resting on the mercer’s cheek. 

— Shit, I love you—The smile was inevitable. He kissed him again, once and then twice, feeling the satisfying and mushy touch of Taeyong’s lips— I should assume that you have never slept on a bed like this, isn’t it?

Taeyong chuckled.

— Never slept and never did anything… of this magnitude— he said gesturing with his eyes downwards to the very evident way in which he was laying, still over him and between his legs. 

Ten turned around, in part to open the covers and in part to hide his sudden shyness. 

He slipped inside the sheets, looked at Taeyong, and raised them above him to cover his body, moving to the right and leaving an empty space by his side.

— Let it be a night of first times, then. Stay with me. I "fucked up" already so what's the point of pushing you off if I can sleep with you.

With a smile he saw Taeyong crawling to accommodate in the matres, sneaking inside his bed set and resting his head on the expensive feather pillow. 

— You'll figure it out.

The prince, still prompted on his elbow, picked up the wing brooches off Taeyong's already messed up hair, with a sight full of endearment and gently sliding them out and letting his black fringe with blue highlights loose over his forehead. He let the metal pieces fall on the carpet and dedicated another glance at the mercer by his side, caressing with his eyes the beautiful curves and lines of his body, showing and shining for only him to see. Then, he went to lay by his side. 

Like a naive person, he nodded in response, but he couldn't consider any outsider fact that changed his current reality.

His arms laced behind his back, letting him pull him closer to his still naked frame, finding the perfect spot to bury his face on one of his shoulders. 

— Ten, I like princes. I like them. I like _you_.


	14. Not good at goodbyes

Twenty-three years living in the Grand Palace of Ignis; with the huge golden vault that elevated between the city’s houses, held by precisely carved stone walls and surrounded by the flowery scent of the gardens where he could have laid the mushy pillows of his rooms to lie while hearing an undying thread of harp music; were not enough of a portent to make Ten miss it when he woke up on Taeyong’s arms. 

The eldest one had limited to smile at him as soon as he opened his eyes, and snuggling softly against his cheek, he had given him a kiss that reminded Ten he wasn’t dreaming. 

They had been doing nothing from then on, all morning, just hitting to talk, fall back asleep and then wake up again to keep talking.

At the bottom of his stomach, Ten was still afraid that everything could break if he dared to put a single foot out of that bed, so he had his legs tangled with Taeyong’s and the arm that wasn’t trapped under the pillow playing with his bicolor hair. 

—It’s surprising.

—What is so surprising now?— said Taeyong, fondly looking at him while prettily lying by his side, hair tangled with resolution like he had slept in a barren, and white spots of light shining on his naked skin as they entered from the window.

The sun was greeting them with its rays in another early morning expended at the western country of Gardens and Rivers. 

— Your voice right now. It's just a gentle breeze— Taeyong giggled, imagining the point that Ten was trying to make— Last night you felt like fire.

— Well, there you go, It seems that this story finally got a really bad incendium as ending. How does it feel like against my selected prince’s skin?— he asked, tracing a line with his finger over Ten's chest, and the youngest didn’t miss the softness of his voice or the slight blush upon the bridge of his nose and cheeks, daring to ask him about their private thing.

—Too good to give it to the Ventum Anguis’ prince as punishment.

—It’s a good consideration— he said with a smirk— I don’t think Jungwoo deserves it.

— My literature teacher told me once that every story has a moral. I can tell you the lesson I have learned with ours is that the biggest sentence from you that a person can carry on is your indifference— the remark seemed to hit on Taeyong’s heart, obliging him to pull Ten closer to him with certain worry and repent, breathing on his lips again like the night that preceded all of that encounter.

— When did I give you my indifference? 

— Well, I thought…— said Ten a bit too distracted with how Taeyong was leaning on him to end pressing a long kiss with some tints of passion and much more of tenderness.

— I didn’t want to make you think I hated you, I think we had too many misunderstandings that failed both of us, do you agree with that too?— Ten nodded quietly with his eyes still hooded and focusing on Taeyong’s lips, smiling at him ever so subtle— Let’s wipe the slate clean and not hurt each other anymore.

— I pretty much think I can forget every piece of bad feelings that had been in my heart lately if you kiss me once more.

Taeyong laughed at the proposal, as well as Ten himself whose arms were already lacing behind his back and searching for the treat.

— Just one? I can accomplish more than sufficiently— The prince smiled and rolled on bed, impulsing himself to rest on Taeyong’s chest, pushing his black flat on the mattress and pulling him on a hotter kiss. He could tell the way Taeyong smiled under his mouth for the surprising zest of his recently proclaimed lover before he could pull back to see his impish smile glistening for him that made him chuckle— Where are you going? Did that seem like you were being cute? This is so bold from a prince, where is your decency?

—Dead and gone like the last trace of my determination to behave like a prince. I just rather be with you.

— Humm… is that so? 

— Do you know how many rules we broke just in the act of letting you put your hands on me?— uttered the prince with a giggle that perfectly implied that that fact made him enjoy the daring even more— So many, it's quite a scandal, and also a clear example of the few fucks I give about royal precepts.

—Then it’s okay, it’s not like I’m your waitting-maid and I’m here to teach you some discipline. Indeed, I'm more than up to this not-princey morning routine.

The wind blew through the open window and moved the red translucent curtain of the bed, drawing goosebumps on Ten’s skin with it, but it wasn’t hard to warm up again with his hands caressing his special friend.

They kisses were only distracted by the sudden and rhythmic sound of horse’s hooves on the pavement grounds of the Garden’s City getting louder on the distance with a frequent pace. 

Horses, it was a long time since Ten didn’t see one of those beautiful animals, because they were only allowed for the use of royal houses when traveling.

And that's what made him open his eyes and pull back from Taeyong's lips, that were sharing a sensual kiss with him, and shoot a curious glance to the window.

He got up from the bed swiftly and left his companion to take his characteristic curious peak out the window. Taeyong sighed defeated and leaning his face on his hand, as his elbow was sunk on the mattress and a smile was painted on his face.

He knew it was on Ten's nature to lurk on everything he was curious about.

— Put on something before leaning on the windowsill, at least— he said with another chuckle and then, as Ten grabbed the first piece of clothing he found, which happened to be the mint robe that Taeyong had been wearing the previous night, he added to himself— But not that, for the Gods' sake, the way he is distracting…

Thankfully for the mercer, he had pulled the edges, crossed them and closed the robe over his body before he reached to sit on the sill, opening the window wider to give a sidelong glance to the scene two floors below him, on the street. 

Taeyong also went to sit with him as soon as he had pants on, looking upon his shoulders just in time to watch a slim and tall boy in tight pants and leather pads chest armour stepping off a black horse to then offer his hand to a rather small and yet embellishing presence.

He had fluffy pinkish hair adorned with golden needles and other decorations, with jewel pendants to top them, which resounded graciously as he jumped from his horse, making the long back of his silk jacket to hit the stones of the ground like a gentle wave.

Then, the warrior pushed a strand of his hair back and knocked the Na family's door with power, standing there diligently with his hand on the sword's handle.

He took air and claimed:

— To the Na family, and all the villagers around the City of Gardens, I want to announce the arrival of his royal presence, Prince of _Caleo_ , Duke of the Aufeng region, and legitimate heir of the king, Zhong Chenle. In order to keep a communicative relationship with the neighbor country that shares border with us, Prince Zhong had insisted to escort the citizens of the land that suffered the _Storm's Lily_ vessel's sinking and requested help to come back, as the documents read, Captain Kim Doyoung and Lord Huang Xuxi— Ten almost choked with the mention of his page's name, finally feeling the last piece of relief within him. Meanwhile, the warrior looked back at Prince Chenle with a funny expression of self appreciation— Oi! I sounded great with that discourse.

Truthfully, there were half a dozen horses stopping at the entrance of the Na's village, and unlike the prince who rode the horse to the door, now Lucas and Doyoung were walking on their own towards it.

The rest of the horses were the small army company that Chenle had brought, but it was small for a calm mission and they stood on the entrance, giving in the responsibility of the prince fully to the prime general. 

It was risky to let him go without a full group of guards, since prince Chenle was the most cotizated royal of the surrounding countries, and his beautiful appearance together with his young and still inexperienced age was a big target for people who aspired to make a good and stable relationship with a royal bloodline. 

Doyoung, in the absence of a clean change of his official uniform from the Expedition, had opted by the high class attire, same as Lucas, who didn't really look any different than with his usual clothes, except for the small scratches of his face, probably due to the events that happened during the storm. 

— Very correct— the prince downstairs laughed. He was bright and also seemed to be a little bit naive yet, but for sure he was a happy child and it reflected in his personality— Thank you, Jisung, you can rest now. 

As he said that to the soldier at his charge, the door opened diligently, Jeno pushing from its heavy weight, his face coming to be bright and happy as he saw his captain and friend Doyoung standing in front of him and smiling like so, too. However, he didn't forget the situation he was in, and did the elegant reverence that Chenle’s status required, as well as Jaemin, that had gone to the door with him, both to salute Doyoung and check on his condition, and to offer his warm welcome as he was taught, gracefully and pretty. 

— Welcome to the City, majesty, it’s so kind of you to bring protection to our friends and relatives. Please, come in and let us thank your help given to our Doyoung— the young noble invited them to pass with a simple and neat gesture, so Chenle gave a nod and proceed to work his way up the porch's stairs, followed by his soldier and, of course, the guests— My mother is absent right now, but let me offer you something in her behalf. You must be hungry from traveling, before we discuss anything, let me ask you if you want anything to eat.

Chenle sat on the living room's low table, where Lucas also took place. 

The page was serious and quiet, but anyone who knew him would have divinated that his insides were burning with a tint of fear and sadness.

Totally opposite to this mood, Doyoung hugged Jeno and patted his back with happiness before they found their seat too.

As for Jisung, he just stood on a corner with the secured hold of his sword and his attention all around the place. Jaemin thought that it should be hard to be the keeper of a prince but the young boy seemed to complete his job nicely. 

— It's still morning, if you have butter cookies I would like a tray of them. And tea. 

—Sure, majesty— he said with a smile and sent a maid to bring cookies and tea for everyone. Then he sat next to Jeno— Captain Doyoung, I can't express my delight watching you come back on your own feet. Jeno told me the events that happened to you and I feel devastated, they were terrible. The Storm’s Lily was beautiful, I am so sorry. 

— I see he has been talkative with you, young master— teased Doyoung with a smile and a mischievous look to his hand— Is a ring what I see on your finger?

Jeno sunk his face on his palm, wishing to be swallowed by the earth. But far from being shy, his fiancé was stretching out his arm and hand so the diamond could shine under the lights.

Chenle also looked at it with an approving expression, a nod and a smile that silently congratulated him on his recent engagement. 

— That’s what it is, Captain! It looks pretty, right? Jeno has a good taste with everything!— he said leaning on his shoulder, snuggling on it and ripping a smile from Jeno, still shy, who grabbed his hand and pulled it back down under the table.

Doyoung started cackling at their dual relationship style.

— It’s a portent of a ring, young master. I’m sorry to both of you for not coming in time to see how Jeno proposed.

— It’s okay, captain, you’ll attend the wedding, anyways, we’ll see you shed tears that time, instead— said Jaemin with a cheeky and sweet smile.

— Congratulations for both— added Chenle— I hope you have a happy marriage when the time for the wedding comes.

— Ay, my little Jeno is getting married, how time flies!— kept going Doyoung, funny— Which season would you choose for the celebrations? Would you wear white or is it too late?

— Doyoung!— protested Jeno, prince Chenle concealing a laugh biting his cheek as he didn’t know the guests enough to just roar with laughter in their faces, especially in Jeno’s, turning red as a tomato— Let’s… can we return to the main conversation?

— True, Captain— said Jaemin— I’m happy with my engagement but the Storm’s Lily is a bigger concern now. Was anyone harmed? 

— It’s hard to estimate— he said as the maid served Chenle a cup of tea and then directed to him to do the same with his, the atmosphere turning more serious again— I pulled people in safe boats, like here Lucas who boarded with Johnny Suh and Jung Jaehyun. I also could step in one. Although it was hard to row for a long distance to the Golden Shores, and Lord Moon Taeil was not the biggest help, we arrived well. Nonetheless, I know this type of situation is hard, people fell off and some boats started deviating from our course due to the storm surge, so we are not sure about the whereabouts of some people. Which brought us here…

— Honestly— irrumped Lucas to talk to Jaemin— We turned to you due to the rumor of a prince visiting over your house, young master.

— Rumors truly spread like a wildfire in this region, _uh_?

Ten walked in the living room with a smile on his face, the humble wing-shaped pins on his slick back hair and the mint robe open over a white shirt and black pants. 

Lucas, in a trice, got so much happiness and relief that he forgot manners by all means and got up to hold him.

The prince laughed and hugged him back, forgetting all the fights and arguments they had before the tragedy knocked on their door.

The fear Lucas had gone through when his cold body reached land was outstanding, facing the possibility of losing the Prince of Ignis, who was under his responsibility, forevermore. 

But not only that, even when he thought about him as just Ten, the simple boy who liked to draw and get paint stains on his face, the thought of him being gone really hurt him, especially if his last words to him were only reproaches. 

— You du- majesty, you are really here! You are feeling fine, right?— said Lucas brushing his tunic straight after the impulsive hug that had them all looking interested, and prince Chenle sipping on his tea, neatly discovering that he had accepted the strangest but also funniest mission of his assignments.

— I'm totally fine, look at me, I don't even have a single scratch— he said walking towards the group.

The truth is that he had some scratches under his clothes, and some bruises too, but they didn’t come from the shipwreck, and that was a selected information that wouldn't have made anyone calm or happy, so he omitted it.

He sat around the table, people starting to squeeze a little, and tilted his head in front of Chenle only, whose title prevailed over his despite his clearly younger age

— Crown Prince Zhong, it's an honor to meet you in person.

— Prince Ten— he solved, shortly.

— Thank you for tending Lucas and bringing him here under your protection, it’s honorific behaviour, as expected— he thanked Chenle, who smiled, and then continued to talk to the newcomers with a grin— Are you hurt anywhere?

— No, prince, I’m really well. Just now that I find you taken care of I can be calm.

— You can swear it— said Doyoung, owning an objection in the form of the page’s frown— This kid right here is clever and energetic, but majesty, I have to say that he is shadowy when worry looms over him.

— His Majesty, the royal prince, must have been worried too— commented Jaemin with all of his good will— Last night he didn’t stay long in our party, he should have been exhausted.

— Well, yes, I was tired and a little bit...— he searched for a word he could say out loud while Jeno chewed his cookie and stared at him with curiosity— Nostalgic. But everyone can stop worrying now, please, I feel like you are doing a mess because of my fault. I just made it out alive. 

Lucas gave him a smile.

The way he was so content was a vision for Ten that was close to the one you have when you found yourself very tired in the dessert, just forgetting that it was about to happen like a downside for him either way. 

— How could I just not worry? Because, majesty, with all my respect and endearment, the closest I have heard of you being into water is in the bathtub. How could you arrive at the shore? It was miles away.

— It must be a miracle from Light God, bless us all— conveyed Doyoung.

— This has nothing to do with Gods, captain— said Ten sharply.

The answer was not needed to be extended in words, since everyone could turn their faces to the sound of Taeyong stepping in the living room with fresh new clothes and his face looking more healthy after a night of sleep in a proper bed without having to worry about starving or dying of thirst in any of the ways possible. 

He did the proper reverence, remembering how it was requested to do it from when he visited Jungwoo’s palace. Of course, Ten tilted his head in response with a sweet smile that many could blame to the generous gesture of Taeyong towards his life, no matter if he was a prince of his or not; but for Lucas, that had been knowing Ten's personality for a while and learning all of the infinite ways of silently expressing the restrained feelings inside his princy’s heart, he could see that new special shine in his eyes. 

And he did not like it.

The thoughts that had been coming up to the page’s lately started clouding his mind again, as he had a lot of time to try to decipher them in his way to survival through the sea and foreign land, and he ended with the conclusion that he had to be mature and face the fact that he had been mistaken for a long time.

Lucas had always told himself that he loved Ignis, his country; that he was soaked with the pride of being born in a happy place like that, and so he followed the rules and royal commendations that made his nation with a bright heart and determination. But recently, he turned out to think it was the prince what he loved all along for his vitality and beauty, close to him everyday. 

And that made everything so difficult. 

Anyhow, it was easy for him to believe the apparent turn of events, because if those were really his thoughts about him, Taeyong also had eyes to see, a heart to feel and some proximity to approach Ten in that way Lucas barely have known due to pure fear. 

— Lord Taeyong— saluted the captain as the mercer took one of the only spaces left on the table, which was next to Ten and in front of Doyoung and Lucas. Doyoung seemed surprised but joyful of being able to discard his name from the list of people who could have died in his vessel’s tragedy. Chenle shipped harder from his tea cup, seeing the scene get populated and the variety of ranges and expressions that went into it, from Doyoung’s self-righteous face to Lucas’ run-down one, not missing Ten’s subtle blushy cheeks of glee— What an unexpected reunion! You too look perfectly bright, even better than when traveling, if I might say. Motion sickness?

—Yes— he answered with a smile, admitting once and for all that that was _part_ of his trouble back then. 

— Did this man help you, Prince Ten?— questioned Chenle, now interested with the story as it turned unusual, almost like a fantasy pulled out from a novel.

Jaemin was also leaning on his laced hands upon the table to listen to the exciting adventure of a brave prince and his foreigner saviour. 

The answer didn’t disappoint any of the present as Ten pronounced it.

— He saved my life, full stop.

There was quite a stir when this was said. Jaemin was all dreamy eyes, as expected from a nobleman who didn’t fail to love a dramatic and corny story of that matter, as well as Chenle; his crown made of hair needles clicking while he nodded impressed and delighted to hear so. Doyoung was plain impressed, like the soldier still leaning on the corner of the tea room, probably not expecting a person like Taeyong to get into a quest of that significance and succeed. 

And Taeyong… words couldn’t describe the inability of keeping the warmth of his feelings inside his heart when Ten proclaimed it out loud, they just popped like a bubble and started spreading across his veins with a quick movement.

Lucas seemed to be on the verge of opening his mouth to speak, but Chenle was faster and his words had priority over all of them.

— I am fully confident to say that it should have been a very significant scratch for you two, hard to forget as an experience. Lord Taeyong, you gave the best stretch to do good to Ten— Jeno pressed his lips on a thin line at the innocently approach that was yet heatedly accurate— That’s praiseworthy. 

— Indeed— agreed Lucas, finally speaking— And as a representative of his majesty and Ignis’ royal house I have to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, Lord Taeyong. You saved our prince and took him here, to safe land, so he can come back home with grace and honor.

Silence fell, crashing down so hard. 

The flutter of Ten’s lashes was swift, as his destiny was there, hand to hand with Lucas and seating on the table, invisible until that moment due to the blinding attitude of his heart’s conditions. 

Taeyong saw it all, because looking at Ten with assiduousness was becoming a habit he didn't want to get rid off and that, perhaps, pricked his heart, realizing the decay of his lover’s happiness with more than justificated reasons. 

The atmosphere suddenly drifted to an awkward and sticky one, only broken by Prince Chenle’s hands clapping once and his raising from his seat, in sight of the obvious trouble he was foreign to and had put them in a soundless standby for the last minutes.

— Well, it was an honor to take Captain Doyoung and Sir Lucas here, Caleo is proud of helping their neighbors, but we should be leaving, as you must have many things to fix with your relatives. Jisung.

— But sir...— complained the soldier under his breath, knowing he would miss the gossip.

— It’s not our business here. Call up the troop, we are retiring.

Both the Caleo prince and his soldiers left, accompanied by Jaemin, Jeno and Doyoung, who insisted on offering a proper farewell for them and the soldiers. 

Doyoung wss keeping an ace under his sleeve with rhat, so he could talk to Jaemin about his engagement with privacy and jocosity on their way back. 

The living room was left as a battlefield of stares and tension that someone had to break, and that someone was, of course, Lucas. 

— You already knew this trip had an end.

— I-

— Don’t look at me with those eyes— he protested with a heartache— Don’t dare to say it, majesty, I swear over the Gods I can't bare with life if it goes out from that mouth of yo-

— I don’t want to come back— he dared to say, anyways, his eyes looking nowhere but the tablecloth as he couldn’t stand the situation either. Taeyong was holding his breath, and he didn’t notice until moments later, when the prince finally had the strength to look at Lucas, with that disappointed grimace on him. He had always loved his country and his prince, but now, those two things were separated matters and not just one concept as it always had been. Choosing was a hardship— You shouldn't be looking at me like that, either, this is not a surprise for you.

— But I had the hope you could endure it like an adult, know your place and-

— Tell me what’s my place— he interrupted, Lucas face’s paling down— My place is to be the kept-away, illegitimate child of his royal majesty. It’s to be ignored but my very own father, hated by my brother and dismissed in my every suggestion, bored and dying of suffocation between for stone carved walls, not even hitting to do something for the people that pay my sheets with their sweat.

— You don’t know that yet.

— Lucas, for the Gods… you know as well as me that I can’t outpace Xiaojun; and he wants it more than me, he is deserving of wearing the crown. Why do you have to push me back? Please just… let me go, let me _live_.

— That's it? Is it so easy for you?

— Easy?— said Ten almost unable to hold his volume peaking up, it was not a moment for yelling and even if it was, he wouldn't have wanted to give Lucas the aim of a farewell in a hatred way. Lucas would always have his endearment, but not as big as it was the other way around— I never tried to execute a task so hard. I know you have been with me for years now, Lucas, but you have never been in my skin. I hoped you could understand me and help me with this, at some points I thought you did, but it seems like it was just one of the many things I can't dominate. 

— Okay, whatever!— said Lucas angrily, his mind suddenly choosing one of the two paths he could take to end the conversation— I don’t care where your eccentricity is leading you to this time. This decision doesn’t only take your word, I am also here and I have a code and a rule book to follow, and so you do. Behave like the prince, swallow down your caprices and get ready to go back home. Tomorrow we shall send in the church’s accord and would be leaving mid day. And that’s how it goes.

— Are you reprimanding me?— said Ten, getting up from the table ready to go to his chamber, with a calm voice that was no calm at all, just concealed affliction.

Taeyong followed him with his eyes as he did so, but had to retire them from him in the moment he saw how Ten's orbs were shimmering with light on their wet surface.

It would make things worse to lose it like that in front of his page.

— You don’t leave me no choice.

— Good to see I ain’t have to drop the royal title for your disrespect, so I can at least taste the feeling of being a free man while I go my way back being yelled at like a mid-class child.

Lucas bit his lip when Ten walked out, making his slow-paced way upstairs to his room, his luggage waiting to be prepared and his fate written in the stars when he was born. 

The knowledge of his grief weighed on Lucas heart too, but someone had to do it for him, right? It was not just his own desires pulling him to act but an entire cou try counting on him for a task.

His eyes drifted to Taeyong, still sitting on his place, the tea still in his cup, cold, and his glance digging a hole in Lucas’ face. 

He sighed quite hard back to his mad expression and rolled his eyes.

—Talk to him— spat Lucas. 

Taeyong was utterly surprised, naturally, as the page asked for this unexpected thing.

— Excuse you? 

— Talk to him. I know he won’t listen to me, no matter how much I can ask him or even order him around, but he looks at you differently and I know you can convince him.

Taeyong scoffed incredulously. 

— What makes you think I want to convince him and give up on him? 

— No one in his right fucking mind wants to give up on him, you think I don’t know? But even if it’s hard for me to admit this, you are a righteous man, so you can understand that this is not what it’s supposed to happen. You are a peasant and so am I, but not him. He could do big things… 

— He doesn’t want them— said Taeyong, even though a tiny piece of him agreed with what he was being told.

In his land he grew up with a greedy prince at the throne, but keeping Ten from one was a way to deny a better prince to a whole nation. Taeyong would have wanted him as prince of his country, for sure.

He wouldn't have been there if kindness ruled his country.

— What does he want? Are you going to say it’s you? You are not more than his _whim_ — said Lucas as he looked at him, his eyes dark and cold, just as much as his voice— And when the whim dies he will keep being the prince Ten. What are you going to be when he gets bored of you?

Taeyong gulped.

—What?

—It’s so good, right? Feeling close to him feels like sparks fly and you are his only one. Taeyong, I know he feels like a dream but it's a lie. He is so high above all of this. 

He had heard enough. He got up with a puff and walked away, Lucas still fulminating him with the look on his back, coated with that reddish robe that seemed to laugh at him.

But, at the same time he had wounded Taeyong, dragging his feet upstairs with a pulsing doubt. 

To let him go was not a pleasant feeling, but he had to be a little realistic when going in front of Ten.

Which was hard, because he opened the door of his room and found him sitting on the edge of the bed and wearing his mint robe like better the prince of his heart than anything else. He would have let him use that throne without fighting for the legacy. 

Slowly, as if he was going to play with a piece of thin crystal, he sat next to him, without leaving any inch between them.

Ten looked at him with those eyes full of frustration and somehow a trace of his impetuosity. 

— I guess the time has come— attained to say Taeyong, pained in a way he understimated at first.

—Taeyong, take me home.

The mercer inhaled softly and closed his eyes to the rhythm of his breath, the fresh smell of the prince filling his nostrils with zero to no ways of helping him to reject him or be prepared to pronounce a goodbye for him.

— Don't worry, you are about to go back. If you finish the accords with church, you can q-

—No— he cut. Taeyong couldn't look at his expression for more than three seconds without breaking. His beautiful eyes were liquid and about to drop— Not that home. Your home.

— But Ten…

— What?— he said with tears flowing finally from the impotence of wanting to hold on Taeyong and feeling him slipping from his clenched hands around him. Again. Is that only him was willing to fight to keep him close? Gods damn, even with that, he was used to standing alone and getting it— I know this is not a book and that not everything works like novels say. Drowning hurts, love is hard... I learned the lesson, but I still can try to make my life be like one, just for this part… 

— But you… Ten, listen— said Taeyong trying not to choke up too. He held back the black hair of the prince that was slipping into his eyes and looked him closely until he could lean his forehead on his— All my life I have been thinking that there was no hope with the things that a palace could hold, and only you made me change opinions. You deserve a crown. You deserve to be a prince because you would finally be the prince that people deserve.

— But I won’t even be the real prince, I won’t be a king. Xiaojun would be, and he is going to do great, but I’m going to be a waste of space and do nothing but think about what could have been if I took the chance to escape.  
— Ten, come on...

— Please, don't do this to me.

—But what can I do? Lucas is downstairs and everyone at Ignis wants their prince back.

— And you?— he breathed out, and Taeyong felt like he had been struck, freezing on his place and looking at the prince from barely inches away— Do you want me? 

That was the hardest question ever formulated to Taeyong, out of a sudden. And it was made by him. The prince of Ignis, or the prince of nowhere. Ten. Standing in front of him with the glossy drawing that tears left over his cheeks like a thunder strike. 

The things that he felt for him were not a mystery, he had thought about it, he had said it, he had moaned it, even; he had been in pain due to the helplessness he had felt for a time too long, waiting for his heart to drop that feelings and come back to his sanity. And that never happened, his heart only went from bad to worse, only left with the choice of loving him recklessly. 

He had never thought that the most difficult question of his life would end up with a kiss, but it definitely had no other answer, being so close to his prince and wanting so badly to alleviate his sorrow.

He felt the creamy caress of Ten's hand resting on the back of his neck.

He had an answer for him.

— Of course I do. I love you.

— Then save me, please, just once more.


	15. Closure

Ten was sitting on the carpeted floor of the room that the Na's family gave to him. It was the most special room inside the house that was now drenched on red colors and expensive fabrics, of roses in glasses and jewels made by the best workshops in order to rip a compliment from his royal lips. 

He was born in the Grand Palace's quarters and raised in rooms that looked very similar to that one. 

When he was moved to the upper floors of the palace, he was still scared of sleeping alone and the room was too big for a little kid like him. He had cried through all the first month's nights because of the loneliness and fear, but he had been declared a Crown Prince already, and it was between the expectations- no, worst- the obligations that were attached to the title, that the prince had to have a special chamber. 

There was no returning point.

It was not a good start, but Ten couldn't figure out just yet that the hate and spite he would feed inside his chests, all kept for the royal crown, would get even bigger by the following years.

Months later, Xiaojun also was pushed through the doors of that chamber, and soon after him, Hendery.

The three of them were so young that they shared the same room and could fit in line on their canopy bed shoulder to shoulder without risking to roll down from the edges.

And close contact breeds affection.

Ten was happy to not sleep alone anymore or pass his time only around nurses that doubled his age several times. Simple like that, a kid doesn't have many more worries. He learned to call them his siblings, to not miss his mother and have the other two boys around, jumping on the mattress, hanging from the curtains playfully, just being themselves.

But the palace also dared to snatch that happiness away from his cold hands.

He remembered every word.

_"Prince Ten, sit straight, don't hold the pen like that!"_

_"That's not how you swing a sword"_

_"That's not how a prince laughs, you sound so unsophisticated, learn a little bit from your brother, you should be an example"_

_"You are the eldest and yet he behaves better"_. 

Scolded for things he couldn't help, he ended hating on his mentors and his brother and competitor too.

If only Xiaojun refused to all of that stupid construction like him, if he didn't show the court it was possible to be so awfully perfect and fallen in line, no one could force it into Ten either and demand a consuming attitude all through his life.

Yet Xiaojun seeemed to enjoy the rough education.

Meanwhile, Ten grew up and, every day, he found out a new thing to strangle him. 

But there were some others to keep him breathing. He had balanced all his life like that. 

When Taeyong told him that he had become religious middle way though the storm on board of the _Storm's Lily_ , Ten had taken it as an exaggeration, but maybe it had a bit of truth in it. Because surviving a shipwreck and opening eyes on the shore to Taeyong leaning over him and drenched on sea water, panting almost as tired as Ten himself was, had felt just like a divine act of being pushed through death and reborn again with another chance in life. 

He snorted very low as Taeyong accidentally pulled from his hair. 

— Sorry, it got caught in the comb. 

The man he was falling for happened to be in a place Ten never expected him to be.

He found him by total accident, or fate, as some people would like to call it.

He wondered if Taeyong had been as scared as him when he felt the first whiplash of fondness that preceded a deep feeling of being helplessly lovesick.

Because yes, he was lovesick to the core, and it was only because the complicated situation he was in that he kept overthinking, otherwise his only preoccupation would have been the pleasing feeling of Taeyong kneeling on the carpet behind his back, pressing his chest on Ten's back and brushing his hair with his fingers and a comb to end up attaching one single honeycomb through his locks, mimicking the best he could the way Ignis merchants put their hair back with wooden pieces to look sophisticated and not have hair over their eyes during their working hours. 

Taeyong smiled to himself seeing the youngest one's beauty was a thing of nature and not luxurious adornations. The charm lasted on his appearance while wearing only the simple shirts and pants with a over-the-knee robe and the humble hair accessories made of wood.

To be honest, Taeyong liked him evwn more while looking that way, because that’s the way that Ten seemed to be happier, more carefree and close to let his innermost feelings come out despite being a prince by blood. 

— Taeyong.

— Hmm?

— Remember that morning at the vessel when we passed in front of Caleo?— he asked, for it seemed in his head like that day was far away in time instead about a week far.

Too many things had shaken his head among those days and it was now a new him to consider the timing.

— I remember. Why? 

— I'm thinking now that I never had the chance to answer your question. Why I hate _White Curtains Today_ every time it's played and danced happily all around a salon.

Taeyong leaned over his back and wrapped his arms around him. Ten couldn't believe it came to a point where the mercer would do that out of a sudden and he would know he meant comfort in front of a low voice of preoccupation.

He smiled softly when the mercer left a peck over his hair and nodded against it, indicating that he was listening. He loved how he never pushed him to speak his feelings until it was born from his own heart.

— Are you ready to answer now?

— White Curtains Today is a song about a princess that made a pact with a soldier who helped her tying a bunch of curtains together and descended from her room's window to run away forever— began Ten, straight away. Taeyong suspected how the speech was going to turn out, but ge let the prince explain himself, anyways— You can bet I had always found the argument as an appealing idea to execute my own version of it, but at the same time I thought it was an utopian dream that I could never reach and it made me envious. Envious of a fictional character. It's so awful that I can't even say it without being embarrassed of myself. 

— She was probably real— said Taeyong.

The about-to-quit prince moved on the carpet, leaving his previous task of wrapping the simplest clothes he found on the Na's chamber's closet in a bag to look at the dark eyes of the older one. From the start he had adored those eyes of him, it was not hard to admit anymore when the warmth returned to them.

He chuckled under his breath, keeping the secrecy of their reunion. Even for the two of them, the room was too big and felt cold if going out the warm bubble of their togetherness. 

— At this point I can't tell if you are lying to make me happy or if you are just as heedless as I am myself.

— Think about it— he murmured— People don't talk about the realistic and probable things in tales. When something is likely to end in a certain way and it doesn't surprise anyone, it loses its inherent interest, doesn't it?

— Perhaps.

— I think so. When you guess the ending before the book ends, it becomes kind of boring. Stories are only the surprising events that get people shocked and emotional. A story is nothing until someone with unusual views invents it. 

— Heedless it is— sentenced Ten with a giggle and a smile — Completely unwise.

— You discover that from me just now?— laughed Taeyong too— I'm here with you, at night, you are in my clothes after we danced together in front of a whole salon and kissed you all across this room. That was more than a challenge to me. Me, who wanted to set fire to a palace and ended up tangled with a prince. And you think our crazy memoir starts just tonight? 

Ten shook his head with a renewed sense of optimism fueled by his lover's words. It felt strange to do it and not hit himself on his cheeks with the gems of his now gone pendants. Strangely refreshing. 

— Soon enough I won't be a prince anymore.

Taeyong knew so, and indeed he was the one to help him do that. He would be the person helping tying up his white curtains.

— That’s your unexpected ending, sweetheart. 

It was an intempestive hour when Taeyong had slipped through the doors of his- or better say, their- chamber earlier that night, just some hours after Ten had cried a river over his chest and asked him please to save him from his own home. 

He didn't need to hear anything more from the prince to get convinced.

Though Lucas' words had wounded his thoughts, making him hesitate and planting the sheed of fear about how volatile a prince's mind could be with their caprices, the mercer's heart reminded unbeatable.

If the idea of loosing Ten elicited so much pain and panic, he must be more genuine about his heart that he had judged in the first place. Thus, it was worth the try, it was worth the sacrifice. Taeyong had already looked into the eyes of greed and whims before, and could tell apart perfectly the aspect of those from Ten’s golden irises. Sure, the prince was restless and fidgety, but it was a matter of curiosity, not egoism. 

Taeyong had knocked on Jeno’s door and waited.

And waited… and as no response would come out from that room, so he went to the next door and knocked there, being greeted, this time, by the young master Na Jaemin. 

He just let the door slightly ajar and checked who was out through the slit and why could he possibly be disturbing his "sleep" at midnight. His white night robe and ruffled hair seemed like a protest for the interruption by itself.

Just a minute after, Jeno peeked out from the opening of the door. In the sheer moment he saw Taeyong in a complete set of clothes, he told Jaemin to wait for him inside the chamber for a moment.

The mercer had to smile at the resistance of the young master to leave Jeno go out so late, hugging his waist and peppering his cheek with kisses like a coercitive measure against allowing the officer to leave the bed cold, but Jeno had a certain sense of responsibility towards things, so he was able to push him inside the room again and make the young master wait just a bit longer. 

Jeno was a quick-witted kid too, and he had not missed the way his two trip companions made a magnetic field rise everytime they steped in the same room, it was quite obvious. Something shone on Ten's eyes, like a dim crave for air, so it was not a surprise for him that Taeyong appeared in front of his room and whispered a couple of petitions on his ear, standing in the hall, midnight verging to the next day's twilight.

Ten's mission time was running out, propelling him to a life back at Ignis, out of Taeyong’s reach.

The mercer would never be able to pull from his hand again if he let the prince be obligated to put one single millimeter of his body in the Grand Palace. Even being difficult already, considering that they were inside a town full of the preppiest and most arrogant members of nobility, with a royal page downstairs pacing all the time; the chances of turning the situation around would die completely for them as security would largely grow and exceed the possibilities of being crossed.

Taeyong would _never_ be allowed inside The Grand Palace, and even less allowed to exit with something that belonged inside. 

He had to act immediately. 

Jeno understood, he knew how it felt to try to reach out for someone that's supposedly out of your league. He was a polite, smart and just boy, he swore a code of respecting monarchy, but he wasn't frozen at heart to ignore the undertone Ten had on him. It was so similar to the troubles Jeno went through for Jaemin, the man that warmed his bed in that moment. 

He had grown attached to the prince through the trip and owed him both his life and the hand of his love, that could not be overlooked, so he gave Taeyong his compass and half of the coins he had with him in that moment, as well as an envelope with a recommendation letter for Captain Kun who would sail at morning on board the _Nashira Star_. 

All of that would make it enough money for the cost of an average double chamber, and Ten's rings weighed a ton, so they would eat just fine for at least an entire month in exchange for their price.

The rest, Jeno hoped they could manage it along the way. 

Kun was a little bit caustic and certainly picky with passengers, he didn’t tend to let people in his vessel easily, no one whose main route was towards Ventum Angis did, but Jeno prayed for the letter to be enough, since Kun and Doyoung were good partners while training and he knew their vessel was a trustable source. 

Jeno swore not to tell anyone what he did for the prince that night, even with a sword pointing to his neck he would say that he didn’t know anything and he didn’t expect it if asked.

Both Taeyong and Ten knew it was an honest promise.

And, indeed, Jaemin had looked at Jeno with curiosity when he came back to bed and tried to make his fiancé talk about whatever that could possibly be wrong, only getting a shake of the officer's head and a tender smile in return. 

" _His majesty wanted to ask for permission to take a breath at the gardens_ " was what Jeno said.

The mercer had returned to the room after that, and found Ten placing the last sign on the red envelopes that he had wrapped up neatly, placing them on his bed under the ruby ring that had belonged to his bloodline all those years.

He knew Lucas would hate him with or without a finished task with the church's accord, but even an insignificant gesture was a little bit more of comfort that he could leave to thr page, and Ten would grab all of the possible ones. Even if he took a short sword and hung it on his belt, Ten pretty much preferred not to splash any more Ignis’ red over that house.

— There's still a little bit of time for you to sleep— Taeyong suggested as Ten leaned his back on his chest, still seating on the carpet and playing with the locks of his hair, regardless of how he was done a while ago with the simple hairstyle. The youngest had closed his eyes, enjoying the quiet calm of the mercer's heartbeat, so the latter had noticed the clean look of Ten's face without a single atom of makeup, without earrings or fancy chains adorning his chest. He truthfully looked different than before. He would really convey the impression of being someone else, to the eyes of the people that couldn’t see through his status and his material possessions— Just for some hours, but a little something is better than nothing. 

— I can not sleep now, I'm busy.

— With what?— chuckled Taeyong. 

— With you.

— How comes? I'm not doing anything. 

— I'm trying to fix the memory of how you feel like in my mind—he answered. 

That wasn't so funny to the ears of Taeyong when he listened to it.

— I'll be jumping off that window with you, you don’t need to engrave my memories in stone, I would remind you how I feel like myself every day. 

— I know— he said, his eyes opening to Taeyong's face inches away from his, making his lips tickle with impulse. He had no reasons to not do what his body asked for, anymore, so their lips touched again, making it the millionth time and, with any luck, not the last one— But if I used all my good luck already and something goes wrong, if someone turns on the alarms and run after me, if I ever fail… I need to know how to build up a secret home in my heart to return to when you are far from me. 

He didn't sleep anything that night because of that reason, but he closed his eyes again and Taeyong was glad for the gesture, because he didn't want Ten to see the way he had to wipe off a tear that almost fell from his eye flat on his face.

He needed to give Ten that wish. 

It was so late and dark outside when Taeyong lifted up the garden’s window and stood on the sill, that he could barely say where the summerhouse of the Na’s family was planted in the middle of the grass or how many meters separated them from the exit.

The wind was cold because of the deep night and the humidity rising up from the running sprinklers watering the violet flower field of Jaemin.

The mercer's blue tunic with black embroider on the shoulders lifted up slowly when it caught the gust of wind. He looked down the two floors that separated him from the ground, Ten standing there already with a smile, a trail of red silk curtains on his hand, hanging from the room. 

— Jump, quickly. I’m catching you if you fall, I promise.

— I love you— he whispered from the window.

He should have either accomplish the promise or Taeyong should have landed gracefully, because no one heard a thing, the violets’ stems didn’t even swing with the impact, and Lucas only noticed the big absence of his master when he swung the double door of his chamber open the nexy morning and the only greeting he got was an open window and a white room of pale curtains and sheets. 

The news rushed through the house like wildfire, maids and nurses, vassals, wandering guests from the last party and the full extension of the Na family started flooding in with awe in their eyes. Some other showed panic and a big part of them just mere surprise, but Xuxi sighed to vacuous space without moving any more inches, staring quietly at a scene that he had pictured happening more than once or twice and that finally he saw becoming real in front of him. 

He could have guessed, a part of him actually did. 

The page just slowly walked to the bed and noticed the red envelope. He took it, saving it in the inside pockets of his robe. Next, he slided the cooper and ruby ring on his finger and let himself flop backwards on the canopy bed, losing his eyes on the white curtains above his head. 

His eyes stung pretty bad, and he wondered which one was a better place to let himself cry, the palace or the abandoned bed of his master.

The dilemma resolved quickly, as he felt the long lasting scent of rosed mixed with sandalwood raise from the sheets, a drop painting his bruised cheek, unceremoniously, ruthlessly.

At least that was a handicap when the servant arrived back at Ignis, a week after that. He had already given vent to so many tears that his eyes were already dry.

He just couldn't cry anymore, but he would have wanted.

Lucas held his breath in as he walked, accompanied with the newcomer priests that would teach theirs. He was shortening the last meters between the first fence that surrounded the palace and the stairs of the entrance, where the king was standing with a twenty of vassals kneeling all around him and, of course, his two children.

Needless to say, the more that Lucas walked, the more intense that Xiaojun and Hendery’s glances over him became. Their eyes were restlessly sesrching for something they couldn't find, scaning the place and screaming confused, missing a reddish shine of dresses and hairpins moving with energy under his paper umbrella. 

Lucas stopped in front of the first step of the stairs, giving his reverence to the king, imposing like always and immovable in front of his greeting, unlike his sons. 

Then, he walked up the stairs, his shoes rising a muffled sound against the red carpet, and stopped in front of Xiaojun.

The prince looked up at him, the guardian of his brother, with his lips parting in surprise. 

Surprise that peeked up even more when the servant bowed for him the same way he had done with his father and extended his closed fist to him. The prince looked at Hendery, briefly exchanging some looks of disturb and arising alarm, before his palm extended for Lucas to deposit the piece. 

Xiaojun was smart, well-read, romantic and awfully beautiful. His eyes were big and shiny like a couple of black tourmalines, and his lashes were really long and framed them as if he was a wild deer. His hair was softly brunette and curly under the light veil he was using to stand outside under the sun.

And with all of that, he was still not like his brother in thr ryes of Lucas, no matter how long or deep he started. 

He dropped the ruby ring on his small, fair hand.

Hendery’s body slacked off, his knees shaking on his spot with a very low gasp. 

— Lucas?

— It’s an honor to see you again, _crown princ_ e, let me congratulate you for your upcoming coronation— said the page, straight to the point. 

— But Ten...— started the legitimate heir, but the just shook his head in dismission before he had to pronounce a verbal explanation that would make his voice crack and his heart ache again.

—No— said Hendery, edging a panic attack and descending the couple of steps that separated him from the royal page to hold him on his arm, while Xiaojun just stared in shock at the ring of his hand— It can't be! What you are insinuating it’s a lie! Don’t be a liar, you can’t say that and pretend everything it’s fine! Tell us where he is!

— Let go of me, Hendery!— growled Lucas. The whole crew of vassals turned to him, faces paling at the dare, starting to murmur and move on their spots with agitation— Do you want to know where he is? You tell me first!

— No!! It was your mission to bring him back! You had to keep him safe!

— I tried! He drowned with the _Storm’s Lily_ , he just disappeared like those stupid stories he liked to read to you, but anyways you can’t make him come back for more than you yell at me! I can't take him back!

—Hendery, let go of him!— interffered Xiaojun, running down the stairs and trying to catch a hold on his brother for the sake of their decency in front of their father, housemaids and crowd gathered outside the fences trying to see the turmoil— It's not his fault! Let him speak! Xuxi, he is our brother we deserve- 

— I can't say anything else, majesty. He is gone. 

— Huang Xuxi, I won’t let you go until you tell me the truth!— cried Hendery out, squirming and wriggling against his brother's grip, holding down his arms and waist—Xuxi! Come back, I'm your prince too, you owe me a response! Xuxi!! It’s an order! Lucas!!

But Hendrry calling upon him or upon Gods won’t make it easier for Lucas to figure out an answer. 

_White Curtains Today_ ended with the run away, no one ever asked where the princess was. Maybe she was too good at hiding from the world, maybe she also was a windbreaker that disappeared with their order. It was the part that the bards never had to tell, everyone clapped satisfied and gave away their thankful coins when the cords ended and she was gone. 

The Ignis Royal Palace had now a new song to sing. 

But real life was never as easy as the books. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed and thank you all for reading until here!!  
> Find the sequel at my profile, or here ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/22635343 ) if you want!


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